Faculty Bibliography

Thalamocortical dysrhythmias (TCD) may underlie a variety of neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms. (1,2) In TCD, pathological theta-range activity from thalamic deafferentation or disfacilitation is hypothesized to trigger thalamocortical (TC) domains to oscillate at low frequency, underlying negative symptoms, surrounded by areas of gamma-band activity, creating an 'edge effect' leading to some positive symptoms. TC connectivity and neuronal properties can distribute and sustain this pathological equilibrium. Spontaneous neuromagnetic activity was recorded from patients (n=5) with refractory OCD and from controls (n=4). Recordings were performed with whole-head MEG (4D Neuroimaging), for 5-10 min (0.1-508Hz) with subjects' eyes closed. Coherence, multitaper-based spectral and independent component analyses (ICA) were performed using Matlab (Mathworks) and in-house software. Power spectra from control recordings demonstrated typical alpha rhythms, while spectra from OCD subjects showed robust activity in the theta range and increased total power. In addition, cross-correlations of spectral amplitude from controls displayed activation of discrete frequencies; patterns from OCD subjects showed high coherence over a wider spectral range. Furthermore, ICA revealed components with theta-range spectral properties and dipolar positions consistent with aberrant resting cortical and basal ganglia oscillations. The conception of TCD may serve as a template for the study and treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. 1.Llinas,R et al (1999) PNAS 96:15222-7 2.Llinas,R et al (2001) Thal Rel Sys 1:237-44

Pyramidal cells of layers 2 and 3 comprise one of the principal cell classes in the neocortex, but because of their small size the electrophysiological properties of their dendritic tree have only recently been accessible to direct measurement (Waters et al 2001). We have generated a detailed compartment model of layer 2/3 pyramidal cells based on recent data and used it to predict the response of these cells to synaptic inputs arriving at different regions of the dendritic tree. Distributions of dendritic Na+, K+ and Ca2+ conductances were constrained by the requirement that model electrophysiology fit the measured responses. For such distributions we found that simulated layer 1 synaptic input to the apical tuft was surprisingly ineffective in triggering somatic firing. This was because active propagation of excitation from the tuft inward to the soma rarely occurred in the model, consistent with our experimental findings. In contrast, the model showed that somatic firing was readily driven by input to the basal arbor. These predicted layer 2/3 pyramid input/output characteristics differ from those of layer 5 pyramidal cell models (Rhodes and Llinas 2001). In simulations, tuft input is more effective in layer 5 pyramids than layer 2/3 pyramids, whereas layer 2/3 pyramids are more responsive to feedforward synaptic input impinging upon the proximal arbor. We propose that feedforward and feedback streams of information in cortex may have complementary effects upon the microcircuitry of the column

The spatial and temporal patterns of neocortex activation are determined not only by the dynamic character of the input but also by the intrinsic dynamics of the cortical circuitry. To study the role of afferent input frequency on cortical activation dynamics, the electrical activity of in vitro neocortex slices was imaged during white-matter electrical stimulation. High-speed optical imaging was implemented using voltage-sensitive dyes in guinea pig visual and somatosensory cortex slices concomitantly with intracellular recordings. Single white-matter electrical stimuli activated well-defined cortical sites with a radially oriented columnar configuration. This configuration was followed, over the next few milliseconds, by a lateral spread of excitation through cortical layers 5 and 6 and layers 2 and 3. Much of the optical response was eliminated in low extracellular calcium, indicating that it was primarily synaptically mediated. Repetitive stimuli at 10 Hz reproduced the spatiotemporal pattern observed for single stimuli. In contrast, repetitive stimulation in the gamma frequency range ( approximately 40 Hz) rapidly restrained the area of excitation to a small columnar site directly above the stimulating electrode. Intracellular recordings from cells lateral to the activated column revealed increased inhibitory synaptic activity and/or decreased excitatory responses during the train at 40 Hz, but not during a 10 Hz stimulation. Localized microinjections of GABA(A) antagonist produced a reorganization of the geometrical activity pattern that was dependent on the position of the microinjection site. These findings indicate that the frequency-dependent spatial organization of neocortex activation is determined by inhibitory sculpting attributable to local network dynamics

1. The integration of synaptic inputs to the apical dendrite of layer 5 neocortical pyramidal cells was studied using compartment model simulations. The goal was to characterize the generation of regenerative responses to synaptic inputs under two conditions: (a) where there was an absence of background synaptic input, and (b) when the entire cell surface was subjected to a uniform blanket of synaptic background conductance such that somatic input resistance was reduced 5-fold. 2. Dendritic morphology corresponded to a layer 5 thick-trunked pyramidal cell from rat primary visual cortex at postnatal day 28 (P28), with distribution of dendritic active currents guided by the electrophysiological characteristics of the apical trunk reported in this cell type. Response characteristics for two dendritic channel distributions were compared, one of which supported Ca(2+) spikes in the apical dendrite. 3. In the absence of background, synaptic input to the apical tuft was surprisingly effective in eliciting somatic firing when compared with input to apical oblique branches. This result obtained even when the tuft membrane was the least excitable in the dendritic tree. 4. The special efficacy of tuft input arose because its electrotonic characteristics favour development of a sustained depolarization which charged the apex of the apical trunk to its firing threshold; once initiated in the distal trunk, firing propagated inward to the soma. This mechanism did not depend upon the presence of depolarizing channels in tuft membrane, but did require an excitable apical trunk. 5. Rather than disconnect the tuft, background synaptic conductance enhanced the efficacy advantage enjoyed by input arriving there. This counterintuitive result arose because background reduced the subthreshold spread of voltage, and so diminished the ability of the excitation of various individual oblique branches to combine to charge the relatively thick adjacent trunk. In contrast, drive from the depolarized tuft is exerted at a single critical point, the apex of the distal trunk, and so was relatively undiminished by the background. Further, once initiation at the apex occurred, background had little effect on inward propagation along the trunk. 6. We conclude that synaptic input to the apical tuft of layer 5 cells may be unexpectedly effective in triggering cell firing in vivo. The advantage in efficacy was not dependent upon the characteristics of tuft membrane excitability, but rather stemmed from the geometry of the tuft and its junction with the distal apical trunk. The efficacy of tuft input was, however, critically dependent upon inward propagation, suggesting that modulation of membrane currents which affect propagation in the apical trunk might sensitively control the efficacy of tuft input

The goal of this paper is to explore the basic assumption that largescale, temporal coincidence of specific and nonspecific thalamic activity generates the functional states that characterize human cognition

Complex spike activity was simultaneously recorded from 96 Purkinje cells in the rat cerebellar cortex. Rostrocaudal complex spike synchronicity bands were studied in crus I, IIa and IIb and in vermal lobule 6c. Detailed analysis in crus IIa revealed that complex spike activity was staggered sequentially with a 20--50 cm/sec 'propagation velocity' in the mediolateral direction, and that such activity was bilaterally synchronous. The 'propagation' of complex spike activity was symmetrical between right and left crus IIa. Temporally, the neurons that aligned in the rostrocaudal direction typically generated complex spikes close to simultaneously. The correlation of complex spike firing was high between crus IIa and crus IIb, moderate between crus IIa and vermis 6c, and relatively low between Purkinje cells in crus I and crus IIa. These results indicate that, whilst discrete boarders exist between different isochronicity bands, these bands do communicate with each other in the mediolateral direction via slow 'propagation waves' that loosely bind their activity. The results indicate that the olivocerebellar system is organized, bilaterally, to take advantage of the timing signals generated at the inferior olive nucleus