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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on September 4, 2008
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhn143
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Interlaminar Differences of Intrinsic Properties of Pyramidal Neurons in the Auditory Cortex of Mice

Stefan Huggenberger1, Marianne Vater1 and Rudolf A. Deisz2

1 University of Potsdam, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, 14476 Potsdam, Germany, 2 Charité Universitäts Medizin Berlin, Center for Anatomy, Institute of Cell Biology and Neurobiology, 10115 Berlin, Germany

Address correspondence to Dr. Stefan Huggenberger, Zoological Institute II, University of Cologne, Weyertal 119, 50931 Köln, Germany. Email: st.huggenberger{at}uni-koeln.de.

Cortical information processing depends crucially upon intrinsic neuronal properties modulating a given synaptic input, in addition to integration of excitatory and inhibitory inputs. These intrinsic mechanisms are poorly understood in sensory cortex areas. We therefore investigated neuronal properties in slices of the auditory cortex (AC) of normal hearing mice using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings of pyramidal neurons in layers II/III, IV, V, and VI in the current- and voltage clamp mode. A total of 234 pyramidal neurons were included in the analysis revealing distinct laminar differences. Regular spiking (RS) neurons in layer II/III have significantly lower resting membrane potential, higher threshold for action potential generation, and larger Kir and Ih amplitudes compared with layer V and VI RS neurons. These currents could improve temporal resolution in the upper layers of the AC. Additionally, the presence of a T-type Ca2+ current could be an important factor of RS neurons in these upper layers to amplify temporally closely correlated inputs. Compared with upper layers, lower layers (V and VI) exhibit a higher relative abundance of intrinsic bursting neurons. These neurons may provide layer-specific transfer functions for interlaminar, intercortical, and corticofugal information processing.

Key Words: auditory processing • cortical layers • Ih • interspike interval • patch-clamp • T-current


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