D. Contreras et R. Llinas, Voltage-sensitive dye imaging of neocortical spatiotemporal dynamics to afferent activation frequency, J NEUROSC, 21(23), 2001, pp. 9403-9413
The spatial and temporal patterns of neocortex activation are determined no
t only by the dynamic character of the input but also by the intrinsic dyna
mics of the cortical circuitry. To study the role of afferent input frequen
cy on cortical activation dynamics, the electrical activity of in vitro neo
cortex slices was imaged during white-matter electrical stimulation. High-s
peed optical imaging was implemented using voltage-sensitive dyes in guinea
pig visual and somatosensory cortex slices concomitantly with intracellula
r recordings. Single white-matter electrical stimuli activated well-defined
cortical sites with a radially oriented columnar configuration. This confi
guration was followed, over the next few milliseconds, by a lateral spread
of excitation through cortical layers 5 and 6 and layers 2 and 3. Much of t
he optical response was eliminated in low extracellular calcium, indicating
that it was primarily synaptically mediated.
Repetitive stimuli at 10 Hz reproduced the spatiotemporal pattern observed
for single stimuli. In contrast, repetitive stimulation in the gamma freque
ncy range (similar to 40 Hz) rapidly restrained the area of excitation to a
small columnar site directly above the stimulating electrode. Intracellula
r recordings from cells lateral to the activated column revealed increased
inhibitory synaptic activity and/or decreased excitatory responses during t
he train at 40 Hz, but not during a 10 Hz stimulation. Localized microinjec
tions of GABAA antagonist produced a reorganization of the geometrical acti
vity pattern that was dependent on the position of the microinjection site.
These findings indicate that the frequency-dependent spatial organization
of neocortex activation is determined by inhibitory sculpting attributable
to local network dynamics.