Embedding of Cortical Representations by the Superficial Patch System

Pyramidal cells in layers 2 and 3 of the neocortex of many species collectively form a clustered system of lateral axonal projections (the superficial patch system—Lund JS, Angelucci A, Bressloff PC. 2003. Anatomical substrates for functional columns in macaque monkey primary visual cortex. Cereb Cortex. 13:15-24. or daisy architecture—Douglas RJ, Martin KAC. 2004. Neuronal circuits of the neocortex. Annu Rev Neurosci. 27:419-451.), but the function performed by this general feature of the cortical architecture remains obscure. By comparing the spatial configuration of labeled patches with the configuration of responses to drifting grating stimuli, we found the spatial organizations both of the patch system and of the cortical response to be highly conserved between cat and monkey primary visual cortex. More importantly, the configuration of the superficial patch system is directly reflected in the arrangement of function across monkey primary visual cortex. Our results indicate a close relationship between the structure of the superficial patch system and cortical responses encoding a single value across the surface of visual cortex (self-consistent states). This relationship is consistent with the spontaneous emergence of orientation response-like activity patterns during ongoing cortical activity (Kenet T, Bibitchkov D, Tsodyks M, Grinvald A, Arieli A. 2003. Spontaneously emerging cortical representations of visual attributes. Nature. 425:954-956.). We conclude that the superficial patch system is the physical encoding of self-consistent cortical states, and that a set of concurrently labeled patches participate in a network of mutually consistent representations of cortical inpu

The "Where" and "Who" in brain science : probing brain networks with local perturbations

In a reductionistic approach to biology, the two important questions of "necessity" and "sufficiency" have been tremendously important for scientific progress. For example, to show the role of a particular gene, both knock-out mutants ("necessity") and rescue mutants ("sufficiency") need to be considered. These concepts, however, fail in combinatorial network situations. When emergent brain properties arise from the interaction of multiple brain areas, and redundant paths lead to resilience, then none of these areas can be identified as either "necessary" or "sufficient." Here, we use a relatively small-scale network—the glomerular odor-activity map-as a model for redundant combinatorial coding mechanisms. In particular, we use local interference with the functioning network with inhibitory and excitatory neuropharmacological injections to probe the resulting network perturbations. In vivo calcium imaging affords us with access to much of the network activity in real time. We observed, for example, that these local perturbations can generate physiological changes in distant places of the brain. This has important implications for our understanding of neural networks, in particular about the question of "where" a particular capacity—e.g., consciousness—is localized in the brain, and "who" (which cell) is involved. A related important question is "how" a function emerges, i.e., which neural networks are underlying this function? This issue can be addressed using combined functional and anatomical study of the network

High-Amplitude Positive Spikes Recorded Extracellularly in Cat Visual Cortex

We simulated the shape and amplitude of extracellular action potentials (APs or "spikes") using biophysical models based on detailed reconstructions of single neurons from the cat's visual cortex. We compared these predictions with spikes recorded from the cat's primary visual cortex under a standard protocol. The experimental data were derived from a large number of neurons throughout all layers. The majority of spikes were biphasic, with a dominant negative peak (mean amplitude, –0.11 mV), whereas a minority of APs had a dominant positive peak of +0.54-mV mean amplitude, with a maximum of +1.5 mV. The largest positive amplitude spikes were recorded in layer 5. The simulations demonstrated that a pyramidal neuron under known biophysical conditions may generate a negative peak with amplitude up to –1.5 mV, but that the amplitude of the positive peak may be at most 0.5 mV. We confirmed that spikes with large positive peaks were not produced by juxtacellular patch recordings. We conclude that there is a significant gap in our present understanding of either the spike-generation process in pyramidal neurons, the biophysics of extracellular recording, or both

High-amplitude positive spikes recorded extracellularly in cat visual cortex

We simulated the shape and amplitude of extracellular action potentials (APs or "spikes") using biophysical models based on detailed reconstructions of single neurons from the cat's visual cortex. We compared these predictions with spikes recorded from the cat's primary visual cortex under a standard protocol. The experimental data were derived from a large number of neurons throughout all layers. The majority of spikes were biphasic, with a dominant negative peak (mean amplitude, -0.11 mV), whereas a minority of APs had a dominant positive peak of +0.54-mV mean amplitude, with a maximum of +1.5 mV. The largest positive amplitude spikes were recorded in layer 5. The simulations demonstrated that a pyramidal neuron under known biophysical conditions may generate a negative peak with amplitude up to -1.5 mV, but that the amplitude of the positive peak may be at most 0.5 mV. We confirmed that spikes with large positive peaks were not produced by juxtacellular patch recordings. We conclude that there is a significant gap in our present understanding of either the spike-generation process in pyramidal neurons, the biophysics of extracellular recording, or both

Embedding of cortical representations by the superficial patch system

Pyramidal cells in layers 2 and 3 of the neocortex of many species collectively form a clustered system of lateral axonal projections (the superficial patch system-Lund JS, Angelucci A, Bressloff PC. 2003. Anatomical substrates for functional columns in macaque monkey primary visual cortex. Cereb Cortex. 13:15-24. or daisy architecture-Douglas RJ, Martin KAC. 2004. Neuronal circuits of the neocortex. Annu Rev Neurosci. 27:419-451.), but the function performed by this general feature of the cortical architecture remains obscure. By comparing the spatial configuration of labeled patches with the configuration of responses to drifting grating stimuli, we found the spatial organizations both of the patch system and of the cortical response to be highly conserved between cat and monkey primary visual cortex. More importantly, the configuration of the superficial patch system is directly reflected in the arrangement of function across monkey primary visual cortex. Our results indicate a close relationship between the structure of the superficial patch system and cortical responses encoding a single value across the surface of visual cortex (self-consistent states). This relationship is consistent with the spontaneous emergence of orientation response-like activity patterns during ongoing cortical activity (Kenet T, Bibitchkov D, Tsodyks M, Grinvald A, Arieli A. 2003. Spontaneously emerging cortical representations of visual attributes. Nature. 425:954-956.). We conclude that the superficial patch system is the physical encoding of self-consistent cortical states, and that a set of concurrently labeled patches participate in a network of mutually consistent representations of cortical input