Characterization of auditory synaptic inputs to gerbil perirhinal cortex

Vibhakar C. Kotak, Todd M. Mowery, Dan H. Sanes

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The representation of acoustic cues involves regions downstream from the auditory cortex (ACx). One such area, the perirhinal cortex (PRh), processes sensory signals containing mnemonic information. Therefore, our goal was to assess whether PRh receives auditory inputs from the auditory thalamus (MG) and ACx in an auditory thalamocortical brain slice preparation and characterize these afferent-driven synaptic properties. When the MG or ACx was electrically stimulated, synaptic responses were recorded from the PRh neurons. Blockade of type A gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA-A) receptors dramatically increased the amplitude of evoked excitatory potentials. Stimulation of the MG or ACx also evoked calcium transients in most PRh neurons. Separately, when fluoro ruby was injected in ACx in vivo, anterogradely labeled axons and terminals were observed in the PRh. Collectively, these data show that the PRh integrates auditory information from the MG and ACx and that auditory driven inhibition dominates the postsynaptic responses in a non-sensory cortical region downstream from the ACx.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number40
JournalFrontiers in Neural Circuits
Volume9
Issue number40
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 14 2015

Keywords

  • Auditory cortex
  • Calcium
  • Intrinsic
  • Medial geniculate
  • Synaptic

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuroscience (miscellaneous)
  • Sensory Systems
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

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