Interactions between cat striate cortex neurons

SummaryA series of simultaneous recordings from several striate cortex neurons were made in paralyzed, anesthetized cats. Recordings were obtained with one or two bundles of extra fine wires and originated from one and two cortical orientation columns. Standard PST histograms and, in some cases, response planes were used to analyse the neuronal receptive fields. Functional connectivity between neurons was assessed by cross-correlation of their spike trains. It was found that 61% of neuronal, pairs found within a column shared the same input, either excitatory or inhibitory. Even if neurons in a pair belonged to two different columns separated by 1 mm lateral distance, 40% of pairs still exhibited shared input coordination. This type of coordination could also encompass all combinations of simple and complex fields in the pair. Direct connections between neurons were found almost exclusively within columns: excitatory connections were found in 20% of cases and inhibitory in 8%. Direct connections were often accompanied by the other types of interactions. Only one example of excitatory and one of inhibitory direct connections were found between columns. In both cases preferred orientations were almost identical.

[1]  C. Schreiner,et al.  Thalamocortical transformation of responses to complex auditory stimuli , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[2]  H. L. Bryant,et al.  Correlations of neuronal spike discharges produced by monosynaptic connections and by common inputs. , 1973, Journal of neurophysiology.

[3]  B. Cleland,et al.  Organization of visual inputs to interneurons of lateral geniculate nucleus of the cat. , 1977, Journal of neurophysiology.

[4]  G. Gerstein,et al.  Interactions between cat lateral geniculate neurons. , 1976, Journal of neurophysiology.

[5]  G. Henry.  Receptive field classes of cells in the striate cortex of the cat , 1977, Brain Research.

[6]  G L Gerstein,et al.  Spatiotemporal organization of cat lateral geniculate receptive fields. , 1976, Journal of neurophysiology.

[7]  P. O. Bishop,et al.  Striate neurons: receptive field organization. , 1972, Investigative ophthalmology.

[8]  D. Perkel.  Presynaptic inhibition: detection through statistical analysis of impulse trains , 1975, Brain Research.

[9]  T. Powell,et al.  Patterns of degeneration after intrinsic lesions of the visual cortex (area 17) of the monkey. , 1973, Brain research.

[10]  D. Hubel,et al.  Receptive fields and functional architecture of monkey striate cortex , 1968, The Journal of physiology.

[11]  D. Hubel,et al.  Sequence regularity and geometry of orientation columns in the monkey striate cortex , 1974, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[12]  J. Tigges,et al.  Subcortical projections, cortical associations, and some intrinsic interlaminar connections of the striate cortex in the squirrel monkey (Saimiri) , 1970, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[13]  J. Stone,et al.  Projection of X- and Y-cells of the cat's lateral geniculate nucleus to areas 17 and 18 of visual cortex. , 1973, Journal of neurophysiology.

[14]  G. Henry,et al.  Ordinal position of neurons in cat striate cortex. , 1979, Journal of neurophysiology.

[15]  S. Maier,et al.  Widespread Periodic Intrinsic Connections in the Tree Shrew Visual Cortex , 2005 .

[16]  D. Hubel,et al.  Anatomical demonstration of orientation columns in macaque monkey , 1978, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[17]  G. P. Moore,et al.  Neuronal spike trains and stochastic point processes. II. Simultaneous spike trains. , 1967, Biophysical journal.

[18]  K. Tanaka,et al.  Cross-Correlation Analysis of Interneuronal Connectivity in cat visual cortex. , 1981, Journal of neurophysiology.

[19]  K. Tanaka,et al.  Organization of cat visual cortex as investigated by cross-correlation technique. , 1981, Journal of neurophysiology.

[20]  G L Gerstein,et al.  Interactions between neurons in auditory cortex of the cat. , 1974, Journal of neurophysiology.

[21]  Andrzej Michalski,et al.  FIRING SYNCHRONY IN A NEURAL GROUP: PUTATIVE SENSORY CODE , 1981 .

[22]  W. Singer,et al.  Organization of cat striate cortex: a correlation of receptive-field properties with afferent and efferent connections. , 1975, Journal of neurophysiology.

[23]  M. Kimura,et al.  Convergence of retinal inputs onto visual cortical cells: II. A study of the cells disynaptically excited from the lateral geniculate body , 1977, Brain Research.

[24]  C. Gilbert.  Laminar differences in receptive field properties of cells in cat primary visual cortex , 1977, The Journal of physiology.

[25]  G L Gerstein,et al.  Mutual temporal relationships among neuronal spike trains. Statistical techniques for display and analysis. , 1972, Biophysical journal.

[26]  L. Palmer,et al.  Receptive-field structure in cat striate cortex. , 1981, Journal of neurophysiology.

[27]  W. Levick,et al.  Simultaneous recording of input and output of lateral geniculate neurones. , 1971, Nature: New biology.

[28]  W. Levick,et al.  Lateral geniculate neurons of cat: retinal inputs and physiology. , 1972, Investigative ophthalmology.

[29]  G. P. Moore,et al.  Statistical signs of synaptic interaction in neurons. , 1970, Biophysical journal.

[30]  B. B. Lee,et al.  The retinal input to cells in area 17 of the cat's cortex , 1977, Experimental Brain Research.

[31]  D. Hubel,et al.  Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex , 1962, The Journal of physiology.

[32]  Henry Gh,et al.  Striate neurons: receptive field organization. , 1972 .