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Excitation and inhibition in orientation selectivity of cat visual cortex neurons revealed by whole-cell recordings in vivo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

M. Volgushev ,
Xing Pei ,
T. R. Vidyasagar  and
O. D. Creutzfeldt
M. Volgushev
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology, Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, P.O.B. 2841, 3400 Göttingen-Nikolausberg, Germany Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117865, Russia
Xing Pei
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology, Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, P.O.B. 2841, 3400 Göttingen-Nikolausberg, Germany
T. R. Vidyasagar
Affiliation:
Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117865, Russia Centre for Visual Science, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, G.P.O. Box 334, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia
O. D. Creutzfeldt
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology, Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, P.O.B. 2841, 3400 Göttingen-Nikolausberg, Germany
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Abstract

One striking transformation in response properties that occurs in the geniculo-cortical pathway is the appearance of a high degree of orientation selectivity in the cortex. This property may be conceived as arising purely from the excitatory inputs to the cell, as being structured largely by the inhibition a cortical cell receives or could be due to a combination of the two. We have studied the contributions of excitatory and inhibitory inputs to cortical cells' orientation selectivity by analyzing the postsynaptic potentials evoked in cat striate neurones by flashing stimuli of different orientations. We made these recordings using the in vivo whole-cell technique (Xing Pei et al., 1991), which provides more stable and reliable results than classical intracellular recording methods. Our results show that the cat striate cortex exhibits a variety of mechanisms to achieve orientation selectivity. Orientation selectivity of a particular cell can be created by excitatory, by inhibitory, or by a combination of both mechanisms.

Keywords

Cat visual cortexIn vivo whole-cell recordingOrientation selectivity
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 10 , Issue 6 , November 1993 , pp. 1151 - 1155
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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