Focal cortical injuries result in death of cortical neurons and their efferents and ultimately in death or damage of thalamocortical relay (TCR) neurons that project to the affected cortical area. Neurons of the inhibitory reticular thalamic nucleus (nRT) receive excitatory inputs from corticothalamic and thalamocortical axons and are thus denervated by such injuries, yet nRT cells generally su...

During behavioral quiescence, such as slow-wave sleep and anesthesia, the neocortex is in a deactivated state characterized by the presence of slow oscillations. During arousal, slow oscillations are absent and the neocortex is in an activated state that greatly impacts information processing. Neuromodulators acting in neocortex are believed to mediate these state changes, but the mechanisms ar...

During behavioral quiescence, the neocortex generates spontaneous slow oscillations that consist of Up and Down states. Up states are short epochs of persistent activity that resemble the activated neocortex during arousal and cognition. Although Up states are generated within the cortex, the impact of extrinsic (thalamocortical) and intrinsic (intracortical) inputs on the persistent activity i...

The neuronal mechanisms how anesthetics lead to loss of consciousness are unclear. Thalamocortical interactions are crucially involved in conscious perception; hence the thalamocortical network might be a promising target for anesthetic modulation of neuronal information pertaining to arousal and waking behavior. General anesthetics affect the neurophysiology of the thalamus and the cortex but ...

The responses of group III and IV triceps surae muscle afferents to intra-arterial injection of alpha,beta-methylene ATP (50 microg/kg) was examined in decerebrate cats. We found that this P2X(3) agonist stimulated only three of 18 group III afferents but 7 of 9 group IV afferents (P < 0.004). The three group III afferents stimulated by alpha,beta-methylene ATP conducted impulses below 4 m/s. P...

Thalamocortical neurons in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) dynamically communicate visual information from the retina to the neocortex, and this process can be modulated via activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs). Neurons within dLGN express different mGluR subtypes associated with distinct afferent synaptic pathways; however, the physiological function of this org...

34 During behavioral quiescence, such as slow wave sleep and anesthesia, the neocortex is 35 in a deactivated state characterized by the presence of slow oscillations. During arousal, slow 36 oscillations are absent and the neocortex is in an activated state that greatly impacts information 37 processing. Neuromodulators acting in neocortex are believed to mediate these state changes, but 38 th...

The exact timing of cortical afferent activity is instrumental for the correct coding and retrieval of internal and external stimuli. Thalamocortical inputs represent the most significant subcortical pathway to the cortex, but the precise timing and temporal variability of thalamocortical activity is not known. To examine this question, we studied the phase of thalamic action potentials relativ...

Research investigating the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease (PD) mostly focuses on basal ganglia dysfunction. However, the main output from the basal ganglia is via the thalamus, and corticothalamic feedback constitutes the primary source of synapses in the thalamus. We therefore focus on the thalamocortical interplay. During the surgical intervention in six patients, local field potentia...