Spatial distribution of inhibitory synaptic connections during development of ferret primary visual cortex
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Kaoutar Boukamel; Birgit Roerig; Bingzhong Chen; Joseph P. Y. Kao
- Source
- Experimental Brain Research. 160:496-509
- Subject
- Aging
Patch-Clamp Techniques
Synaptogenesis
Neurotransmission
Biology
Inhibitory postsynaptic potential
Synapse
chemistry.chemical_compound
Organ Culture Techniques
Glutamates
Interneurons
Neural Pathways
Reaction Time
medicine
Animals
Patch clamp
Neurotransmitter
Cell Shape
gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
Visual Cortex
Neuronal Plasticity
General Neuroscience
Ferrets
Glutamate receptor
Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials
Cell Differentiation
Neural Inhibition
Electric Stimulation
Visual cortex
medicine.anatomical_structure
Animals, Newborn
chemistry
Synapses
Visual Perception
Neuroscience
- Language
- ISSN
- 1432-1106
0014-4819
Intracortical inhibition in the primary visual cortex plays an important role in creating properties like orientation and direction selectivity. However, the development of the spatial pattern of inhibitory connections is largely unexplored. This was investigated in the present study. Tangential slices of layers 2/3 of ferret striate cortex were prepared for whole-cell patch clamp recordings, and presynaptic inhibitory inputs to pyramidal neurons were scanned by local photolysis of Nmoc-caged glutamate. Inhibitory synaptic currents (IPSCs) were first detected around postnatal day (P) 17. They originated locally around the recorded cells. Both the number and the total areas supplying the inhibitory inputs increased thereafter and peaked at the time around and shortly after eye opening (P29-37). A refinement period then followed in which the areas providing the majority of inhibitory inputs shrank from 600 microm around the recorded neurons to 200-300 microm in more mature animals (/=P38). The amplitude of IPSCs increased progressively with increasing age. Long-range inhibitory inputs (600 microm) were present around eye opening and they often developed into a clustered patchy pattern in more mature animals (/=P38). In summary, our results show a refinement and clustering in the spatial pattern of inhibitory connections during postnatal development of ferret visual cortex.