Journal article
Behavioral State Dependency of Neural Activity and Sensory (Whisker) Responses in Superior Colliculus
Journal of neurophysiology, v 104(3), pp 1661-1672
01 Sep 2010
PMID: 20610783
Abstract
Cohen JD, Castro-Alamancos MA. Behavioral state dependency of neural activity and sensory (whisker) responses in superior colliculus. J Neurophysiol 104: 1661-1672, 2010. First published July 7, 2010; doi: 10.1152/jn.00340.2010. Rats use their vibrissa (whiskers) to explore and navigate the environment. These sensory signals are distributed within the brain stem by the trigeminal complex and are also relayed to the superior colliculus in the midbrain and to the thalamus (and subsequently barrel cortex) in the forebrain. In the intermediate layers of the superior colliculus, whisker-evoked responses are driven by direct inputs from the trigeminal complex (trigeminotectal) and feedback from the barrel cortex (corticotectal). But the effects of the behavioral state of the animal on the spontaneous firing and sensory responses of these neurons are unknown. By recording from freely behaving rats, we show that the spontaneous firing of whisker sensitive neurons in superior colliculus is higher, or in an activated mode, during active exploration and paradoxical sleep and much lower, or in a quiescent/deactivated mode, during awake immobility and slow-wave sleep. Sensory evoked responses in superior colliculus also depend on behavioral state. Most notably, feedback corticotectal responses are significantly larger during the quiescent/deactivated mode, which tracks the barrel cortex responses on which they depend. Finally, sensory evoked responses depend not only on the state of the animal but also on the orienting response elicited by the stimulus, which agrees with the well known role of the superior colliculus in orienting about salient stimuli.
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Details
- Title
- Behavioral State Dependency of Neural Activity and Sensory (Whisker) Responses in Superior Colliculus
- Creators
- Jeremy D. Cohen - Drexel Univ, Dept Neurobiol & Anat, Coll Med, Philadelphia, PA 19129 USAManuel A. Castro-Alamancos - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Journal of neurophysiology, v 104(3), pp 1661-1672
- Publisher
- American Physiological Society
- Number of pages
- 12
- Grant note
- R35NS097272 / NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (NINDS) National Institutes of Health; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA R01MH096817 / NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Neurobiology and Anatomy
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000281910600041
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-77957204188
- Other Identifier
- 991014878216804721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Neurosciences
- Physiology