Balanced tone-evoked synaptic excitation and inhibition in mouse auditory cortex

Abstract The recent characterization of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic receptive fields in rat auditory cortex laid the basis for further investigation of the roles of synaptic excitation and inhibition in cortical computation and plasticity. The mouse is an increasingly important model system b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience 2009-11, Vol.163 (4), p.1302-1315
Main Authors: Tan, A.Y.Y, Wehr, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic Stimulation
Animals
Auditory Cortex - physiology
Auditory Perception - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Ear and associated structures. Auditory pathways and centers. Hearing. Vocal organ. Phonation. Sound production. Echolocation
Evoked Potentials, Auditory
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
in vivo whole-cell
Linear Models
Membrane Potentials
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Neural Inhibition - physiology
Neurology
Neurons - physiology
Patch-Clamp Techniques
Synapses - physiology
synaptic conductance
Time Factors
tonal receptive field
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
voltage clamp
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Summary:Abstract The recent characterization of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic receptive fields in rat auditory cortex laid the basis for further investigation of the roles of synaptic excitation and inhibition in cortical computation and plasticity. The mouse is an increasingly important model system because of the wide range of genetic tools available for it. Here we present the first in vivo whole-cell voltage-clamp measurements of synaptic excitation and inhibition in the mouse cortex. We find that a substantial population of auditory cortical neurons receives balanced synaptic excitation and inhibition, whose amplitude ratios and relative time courses remain approximately constant across tone frequency. We conclude that the synaptic mechanisms underlying tone-evoked auditory cortical responses in mice closely resemble those in rats, supporting the mouse as a suitable model for synaptic processing in auditory cortex.
ISSN:0306-4522
1873-7544
DOI:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.07.032