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Published on: May 10, 2019
Up states are rare in awake auditory cortex
Tomáš Hromádka1, Anthony M Zador, Michael R DeWeese
1Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA.
Journal of Neurophysiology
|January 25, 2013
Summary
In awake rats, long up states in the auditory cortex are rare, suggesting an adaptation for rapid auditory processing. This contrasts with findings from anesthetized preparations.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Auditory Cortex Research
- Neural Circuit Dynamics
Background:
- Subthreshold membrane potential dynamics offer insights into neural circuit organization.
- Bistable membrane potential, characterized by down and up states, is prevalent in many brain areas.
- Previous studies on up-down states primarily used anesthetized or in vitro preparations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the dynamics of membrane potential in the auditory cortex of awake rats.
- To characterize the occurrence and duration of up states in a naturalistic state of arousal.
Main Methods:
- Utilized intracellular recordings in the auditory cortex of awake, behaving rats.
- Analyzed the temporal dynamics of subthreshold membrane potential, focusing on up-state durations.
Main Results:
- Long up states (>500 ms) were found to be rare in the awake auditory cortex, occurring in only 0.4% of instances.
- Most neurons exhibited brief up states ('bumps'), spending approximately 1% of recording time in extended up states.
- A significant difference in up-state dynamics was observed compared to anesthetized preparations.
Conclusions:
- The scarcity of long up states in the awake auditory cortex may be an adaptation for efficient auditory information processing.
- These findings challenge previous assumptions based on anesthetized models.
- The observed dynamics suggest specialized computational roles for brief up states in auditory processing.
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