Intact internal dynamics of the neocortex in acutely paralyzed mice

Animals collect sensory information through self-generated movements. Muscle movements drive active feedback of sensory information and determine large parts of the sensory inputs the animal receives; however, little is known about how this active feedback process modulates the ongoing dynamics of the brain. We made electrophysiological recordings from layer 2/3 neurons of the mouse neocortex and compared spontaneous cortical activity in local field potentials and intracellular potential fluctuations between normal and hypomyotonic conditions. We found that pancuronium-induced paralysis did not affect the electrophysiological properties of ongoing cortical activity and its perturbation evoked by visual and tactile stimuli. Thus, internal cortical dynamics are not much affected by active muscle movements, at least, in an acute phase.