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Journal home Advance online publication Current issue Archive Press releases Supplements Focuses Guide to authors Online submission Permissions For referees Free online issue Contact the journal Subscribe Advertising work@npg naturereprints About this site For librarians   NPG Resources Nature Nature Reviews Neuroscience Nature Cell Biology Nature Medicine Neuroscience Gateway UCSD-Nature Signaling Gateway NPG Subject areas Biotechnology Cancer Chemistry Clinical Medicine Dentistry Development Drug Discovery Earth Sciences Evolution & Ecology Genetics Immunology Materials Science Medical Research Microbiology Molecular Cell Biology Neuroscience Pharmacology Physics Browse all publications Article Nature Neuroscience  4, 424 - 430 (2001) doi:10.1038/86084 Thalamocortical NMDA conductances and intracortical inhibition can explain cortical temporal tuning Anton E. Krukowski1, 2, 6 & Kenneth D. Miller2, 3, 4, 5 1  Biophysics Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0444, USA 2  W. M. Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0444, USA 3  Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0444, USA 4  Department of Otolaryngology University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0444, USA 5  Sloan-Swartz Center for Theoretical Neurobiology at UCSF, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0444, USA 6  Present address: NASA Ames Research Center, Mail Stop 262-2, Moffett Field, California 94035-1000, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Kenneth D. Miller ken@phy.ucsf.edu or Anton E. Krukowski akrukowski@mail.arc.nasa.govCells in cerebral cortex fail to respond to fast-moving stimuli that evoke strong responses in the thalamic nuclei innervating the cortex. The reason for this behavior has remained a mystery. We study an experimentally motivated model of the thalamic input-recipient layer of cat primary visual cortex that accounts for many aspects of cortical orientation tuning. In this circuit, inhibition dominates over excitation, but temporal modulations of excitation and inhibition occur out of phase with one another, allowing excitation to transiently drive cells. We show that this circuit provides a natural explanation of cortical low-pass temporal frequency tuning, provided N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are present in thalamocortical synapses in proportions measured experimentally. This suggests a new and unanticipated role for NMDA conductances in shaping the temporal response properties of cortical cells, and suggests that common cortical circuit mechanisms underlie both spatial and temporal response tuning.  Top Abstract Previous | Next Table of contents Full text Download PDF Send to a friend Save this link Open Innovation Challenges Optimizing Sub-cellular Localization Tags Deadline: Jan 31 2010 Reward: $20,000 USD The Seeker is looking for methods to optimize sub-cellular localization tags for protein expression.... Direct Molecular Detection of Proteins and Nucleic Acids Deadline: Dec 02 2009 Reward: $5,000 USD This Challenge is looking for novel approaches to protein and nucleic acid detection. This is an Id... More Challenges Powered by: nature jobs Endowed Professorship in Neuroscience University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis, Tennessee, USA Leadership Fellowships University of Oxford Oxford United Kingdom More science jobs Post a job for free Figures & Tables Supplementary info Export citation Search buyers guide:   ADVERTISEMENT

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