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Sensorimotor Integration in the Whisker System pp 59–108Cite as

Synaptic Microcircuits in the Barrel Cortex

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Abstract

An elementary feature of sensory cortices is thought to be their organisation into functional signal-processing units called ‘cortical columns’. These elementary units process sensory information arriving from peripheral receptors; they are vertically oriented throughout all cortical layers and contain several thousands of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic connections. To understand how sensory signals are transformed into electrical activity in the neocortex it is necessary to elucidate the spatial-temporal dynamics of cortical signal processing and the underlying neurons and synaptic ‘microcircuits’.

In the somatosensory barrel cortex there appears to be a structural correlate for the ‘functional’ cortical column. Therefore, it has become an attractive model system to study the synaptic microcircuitry in athe neocortex. Although many synaptic connections in whisker-related cortical ‘columns’ have been characterised over the past years our knowledge is far from complete, in particular with respect to inhibitory connections. In this chapter we will summarise recent data on different excitatory and inhibitory synaptic connections in a whisker-related ‘column’ of the somatosensory cortex and try to outline their function in the neuronal network. This requires an appreciation of the diverse types of excitatory and inhibitory neurons and their function within cortical columns and beyond. When necessary, we will also discuss the synaptic input from and to subcortical structures, in particular the thalamus. However, we will not provide a detailed description of the functional mechanisms of these connections; this is beyond the scope of this chapter.

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Abbreviations

5-HT3aR:

Serotonin 3a receptor

AP:

Action potential

BC:

Basket cell

BPC:

Bipolar cell

BTC:

Bitufted cell

CB:

Calbindin

CC:

Corticocortical

ChR2:

Channelrhodopsin 2

CR:

Calretinin

CT:

Corticothalamic

c.v.:

Coefficient of variation

DBC:

Double bouquet cell

ENGC:

Elongated neurogliaform cell

EPSP:

Excitatory postsynaptic potential

FS:

Fast spiking

IPSP:

Inhibitory postsynaptic potential

KCC2:

Potassium chloride co-transporter

LTS:

Low threshold spiking

MB:

Multipolar bursting

M1:

The primary motor cortex

NGFC:

Neurogliaform cell

NPY:

Neuropeptide Y

POm:

Posterior medial

PPR:

Paired pulse ratio

PV:

Parvalbumin

SBC:

Single bouquet cell

SOM:

Somatostatin

S1:

The primary somatosensory

S2:

The secondary somatosensory

TC:

Thalamocortical

VIP:

Vasoactive intestinal peptide

vM1:

The primary vibrissal motor cortex

VPM:

Ventroposterior medial

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-2, Research Centre Jülich, 52425, Jülich, Leo-Brandt-Strasse, Germany

    Gabriele Radnikow, Guanxiao Qi & Dirk Feldmeyer

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Function of Cortical Microcircuits Group, RWTH Aachen University, 52074, Aachen, Germany

    Dirk Feldmeyer

  3. JARA Brain—Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany

    Dirk Feldmeyer

Authors
  1. Gabriele Radnikow
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  2. Guanxiao Qi
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  3. Dirk Feldmeyer
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Correspondence to Dirk Feldmeyer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systems Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Patrik Krieger

  2. Institute of Neuroscience, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Munich, Germany

    Alexander Groh

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Radnikow, G., Qi, G., Feldmeyer, D. (2015). Synaptic Microcircuits in the Barrel Cortex. In: Krieger, P., Groh, A. (eds) Sensorimotor Integration in the Whisker System. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2975-7_4

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