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Determination and quantification of pharmacological, physiological, or behavioral manipulations on ensembles of simultaneously recorded neurons in functionally related neural circuits
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Determination and quantification of pharmacological, physiological, or behavioral manipulations on ensembles of simultaneously recorded neurons in functionally related neural circuits

David M Devilbiss and Barry D Waterhouse
Journal of neuroscience methods, v 121(2)
15 Dec 2002
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0270(02)00263-7
PMID: 12468008

Abstract

Action Potentials - drug effects Action Potentials - physiology Animals Behavior, Animal - drug effects Behavior, Animal - physiology Clonidine - pharmacology Electric Stimulation Electrophysiology - instrumentation Electrophysiology - methods Equipment Design Evoked Potentials - physiology Extracellular Space - drug effects Extracellular Space - physiology Factor Analysis, Statistical Microelectrodes Neural Pathways - drug effects Neural Pathways - physiology Neurons - physiology Physical Stimulation Rats Reaction Time - drug effects Reaction Time - physiology Somatosensory Cortex - cytology Somatosensory Cortex - drug effects Somatosensory Cortex - physiology Sympatholytics - pharmacology Vibrissae Wakefulness
The present report describes methods for evaluating the impact of physiological, pharmacological or behavioral manipulations on simultaneously recorded single neurons within a functional sensory network of the awake, freely moving rat. Surgical techniques were developed to implant a subcutaneous electrode at the base of a single facial whisker (mystacial vibrissae) so that uniform electrical stimuli could be routinely delivered to a discrete region of the whisker pad in the awake and freely moving animal. Multi-channel extracellular recording was used to monitor the spike train activity from ensembles of single neurons in whisker-related regions of the thalamus and neocortex. Algorithms were developed to verify the stability of individual cell recordings during extended experimental sessions. Additional analysis procedures and criteria were established for identifying and evaluating the treatment-specific changes in single neuron discharge patterns that are likely to occur under these experimental conditions. Finally, analyses for evaluating the impact of experimental manipulations on sensory representations distributed over populations of neurons are discussed. The development of these techniques has provided us with the means to investigate the influence of systemically administered drugs or broadly projecting monoamine pathways on single neurons and local circuits within primary sensory networks of the awake or anesthetized mammalian brain.

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Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Biochemical Research Methods
Neurosciences
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