Thalamic modulation of high-frequency oscillating potentials in auditory cortex

Perhaps the most widely recognized but least understood electrophysiological activity of the cerebral cortex is its characteristic electrical oscillations. Recently, there have been efforts to understand the mechanisms underlying high-frequency gamma oscillations(approximately 40 Hz) because they ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1996-09, Vol.383 (6595), p.78-81
Main Authors: Barth, Daniel S, MacDonald, Kurt D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Auditory Cortex - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Ear and associated structures. Auditory pathways and centers. Hearing. Vocal organ. Phonation. Sound production. Echolocation
Ears & hearing
Electrophysiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Geniculate Bodies - physiology
Neural Inhibition
Neurons
Rats
Thalamic Nuclei - physiology
Thalamus - physiology
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
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Summary:Perhaps the most widely recognized but least understood electrophysiological activity of the cerebral cortex is its characteristic electrical oscillations. Recently, there have been efforts to understand the mechanisms underlying high-frequency gamma oscillations(approximately 40 Hz) because they may coordinate sensory processing between populations of cortical cells. High-resolution cortical recordings show the gamma oscillations are constrained to sensory cortex, that they occur independently in auditory and somatosensory cortex, and that they are phase-locked between primary and secondary sensory cortex. As yet, the mechanism of their neurogenesis is unknown. Whereas cortical neurons can produce gamma oscillations without subcortical input, they may also be modulated by the thalamus and basal forebrain. Here we report that the neural generator of gamma oscillations in auditory cortex seems to be intracortical, serving to synchronize interactions between the primary and secondary areas. The acoustic thalamus directly modulates these oscillations, which are inhibited by stimulation of the dorsal and ventral divisions of the medial geniculate nucleus (MGd and MGv) and evoked by stimulation of the adjacent posterior intralaminar nucleus (PIL).
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/383078a0