[Effect of picrotoxin on the receptive fields of cat sensomotor cortex neurons]

Microelectrophoretic application of picrotoxin which is known to reduce inhibition was used for studying inhibitory processes involved in the organization of the sensomotor cortex neurons in cats. The size of the neuronal receptive fields, character of responses and spontaneous activity compared before and after 1 to 3-min application of picrotoxin revealed a considerable enlargening of neuronal receptive fields. The data obtained suggest that inhibition plays a major part in formation of functional properties of neuron.