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Reversible Cooling-induced Deactivations to Study Cortical Contributions to Obstacle Memory in the Walking Cat
Published on: December 11, 2017
Cooling in cat visual cortex: stability of orientation selectivity despite changes in responsiveness and spike width
1Institute of Neuroinformatics, ETH/University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. Cyrille.Girardin@uni-konstanz.de
Neuroscience
|August 8, 2009
Summary
Brain cooling reversibly inactivates brain regions. Cooling the cat primary visual cortex reduced visually evoked responses but preserved essential function, with spike width indicating cooling effects.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Sensory Systems
- Brain Function
Background:
- Local brain cooling is a reversible inactivation method.
- The primary visual cortex (area 17) is crucial for visual processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of localized brain cooling on the primary visual cortex.
- To understand how cooling impacts neuronal responses and circuit function.
Main Methods:
- Localized cooling of the cat primary visual cortex to approximately 0°C.
- Recording visually evoked responses to drifting sine wave gratings.
- Analyzing changes in spontaneous activity, orientation tuning, and extracellular spike waveform.
Main Results:
- Cooling significantly reduced visually evoked responses proportionally to temperature.
- Spontaneous activity decreased only slightly, indicating cortical circuit robustness.
- Orientation tuning peak response decreased, while bandwidth remained unchanged, suggesting divisive inhibition.
- Extracellular spike width increased by 50% during cooling, correlating inversely with response amplitude.
Conclusions:
- The primary visual cortex retains essential functionality despite cooling-induced reduced responsiveness.
- Extracellular spike width serves as a reliable indicator of direct cooling effects versus indirect afferent influences.
