Simultaneous visualization of cortical barrels and horseradish peroxidase-injected layer 5b vibrissa neurones in the...

1. Using diaminobenzidine (DAB) as a chromagen, horseradish peroxidase-injected neurones and cytochrome oxidase-stained barrels were visualized simultaneously in the rat vibrissa cortex. Neurones were initially tested during extracellular recording for responses to whisker deflections. This was followed by intracellular injection of the soma with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and histological processing to visualize the HRP-stained neurone in an incubation solution which contained, in addition to DAB, cytochrome C for cytochrome oxidase (CO) reaction of the barrels. 2. Recording and intracellular staining were made in layer 5b under urethane anaesthesia. CO-stained barrels were observed in layer 4. Physiologically and morphologically characterized neurones were mostly large pyramidal neurones that responded to more than one whisker and displayed transient-type responses. 3. In tangential sections, the apical dendrite of the HRP-filled neurone was followed from the soma level upward as it ascended through the barrelfield in layer 4. The cross-section of the apical dendrite was found in the periphery of the CO-stained barrel. Using the apical dendrite as a guide, the basal dendritic field of the layer 5b pyramidal neurone was aligned on the pattern of layer 4 barrels. The soma was seen to project basal dendrites in all directions, involving one or two neighbouring barrels/columns. 4. In sixteen neurones examined in tangential sections, a complete spatial tuning map constructed by measuring sensitivity of the neurone to different whiskers could be compared to the basal dendritic field in relation to the pattern of overlying layer 4 barrels. The mean receptive field size in terms of the number of effective whiskers was 5.8 whereas the mean dendritic field size in terms of the number of barrels/columns involved was 2.2. In addition to the well-documented role of intracortical connectivity in elaboration of multi-whisker receptor fields in the cortical neurones, the role played by direct inputs from multi-whisker thalamic ventrobasal neurones was discussed.