Phase resetting curves and oscillatory stability in interneurons of rat somatosensory cortex

Synchronous oscillations in neural activity are found over wide areas of the cortex. Specific populations of interneurons are believed to play a significant role in generating these synchronized oscillations through mutual synaptic and gap-junctional interactions. Little is known, though, about the mechanism of how oscillations are maintained stably by particular types of interneurons and by their local networks. To obtain more insight into this, we measured membrane-potential responses to small current-pulse perturbations during regular firing, to construct phase resetting curves (PRCs) for three types of interneurons: nonpyramidal regular-spiking (NPRS), low-threshold spiking (LTS), and fast-spiking (FS) cells. Within each cell type, both monophasic and biphasic PRCs were observed, but the proportions and sensitivities to perturbation amplitude were clearly correlated to cell type. We then analyzed the experimentally measured PRCs to predict oscillation stability, or firing reliability, of cells for a complex stochastic input, as occurs in vivo. To do this, we used a method from random dynamical system theory to estimate Lyapunov exponents of the simplified phase model on the circle. The results indicated that LTS and NPRS cells have greater oscillatory stability (are more reliably entrained) in small noisy inputs than FS cells, which is consistent with their distinct types of threshold dynamics.