Yoshifumi Ueta
   Department   School of Medicine, School of Medicine
   Position   Assistant Professor
Article types Original article
Language English
Peer review Peer reviewed
Title Differentiated participation of thalamocortical subnetworks in slow/spindle waves and desynchronization.
Journal Formal name:The Journal of Neuroscience
Abbreviation:J Neurosci
ISSN code:1529-2401(Electronic)0270-6474(Linking)
Volume, Issue, Page 32(5),pp.1730-1746
Author and coauthor Ushimaru Mika†, Ueta Yoshifumi, Kawaguchi Yasuo*
Authorship 2nd author
Publication date 2012/02
Summary During sleep, the electroencephalogram exhibits synchronized slow waves that desynchronize when animals awaken [desynchronized states (DSs)]. During slow-wave states, the membrane potentials of cortical neurons oscillate between discrete depolarized states ("Up states") and periods of hyperpolarization ("Down states"). To determine the role of corticothalamic loops in generating Up/Down oscillations in rats, we recorded unit activities of layer 5 (L5) corticothalamic (CTh) cells in the frontal cortex, neurons in the thalamic reticular nucleus, and basal ganglia- and cerebellum-linked thalamic relay nuclei, while simultaneously monitoring the local cortical field potential to identify slow-wave/spindle oscillations and desynchronization. We found that (1) some basal ganglia-linked and reticular thalamic cells fire preferentially near the beginning of Up states; (2) thalamic cells fire more selectively at a given Up-state phase than do CTh cells; (3) CTh and thalamic cells exhibit different action potential timings within spindle cycles; and (4) neurons exhibit different firing characteristics when comparing their activity during Up states and DSs. These data demonstrate that cortico-thalamo-cortical subnetworks are temporally differentiated during slow and spindle oscillations, that the basal ganglia-linked thalamic nuclei are closely related with Up-state initiation, and that Up states and DSs are distinguished as different depolarization states of neurons within the network.
DOI 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4883-11.2012
Document No. 22302813
PMID 22302813