Abstract
The neocortex has a striking diversity of cellular morphology. Although histologists have described and catalogued its myriad neuronal forms since the time of Golgi, it is only recently that technical advances in single cell staining have allowed the shape of a cortical cell to be linked with its functional personality (e.g., Kelly and Van Essen, 1974; Christensen and Ebner, 1978; Deschenes et al., 1979; Gilbert and Wiesel, 1979; Lin et al., 1979). These studies are landmark attempts since they represent the convergence of two rich, but basically separate, bodies of knowledge: the structure of single neocortical neurons and their physiological properties. The correlative knowledge to be gained from such an approach will be invaluable to future models of cortical integration (Gilbert and Wiesel, 1981).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alger, B. E. and Nicoll, R. A., 1979, GABA-mediated biphasic inhibitory response in hippocampus, Nature (London) 281:315–317.
Asanuma, H. and Rosen, I., 1972, Topographical organization of cortical efferent zones projecting to distal forelimb muscles in the monkey, Exp. Brain Res. 14:243–256.
Asanuma, H. and Rosen, I., 1973, Spread of mono- and polysynaptic connections within cat’s motor cortex, Exp. Brain Res. 16:507–520.
Benardo, L. S., Masukawa, L. M., and Prince, D. A., 1982, Electrophysiology of isolated hippocampal pyramidal dendrites, J. Neurosci. 2:1614–1622.
Bennett, M. V. L., 1977, Electrical transmission: A functional analysis and comparison with chemical transmission, in: Handbook of Physiology, Section I: The Nervous System, Volume 1: Cellular Biology of Neurons (E. R. Kandel, ed.), American Physiological Society, Bethesda, pp. 357–416.
Bennett, M. V. L., Spray, D. C., and Harris, A. L., 1981, Electrical coupling in development, Am. Zool. 21:413–427.
Benninger, C., Kadis, J., and Prince, D. A., 1980, Extracellular calcium and potassium changes in hippocampal slices, Brain Res. 187:165–182.
Benzanilla, F. and Armstrong, C. M., 1972, Negative conductance caused by entry of sodium and cesium into potassium channels of squid axons, J. Gen. Physiol. 60:588–608.
Christensen, B. N. and Ebner, F. F., 1978, The synaptic architecture of neurons in opossum somatic sensory-motor cortex: A combined anatomical and physiological study, J. Neurocytol. 7:39–60.
Connors, B. W. and Gutnick, M. J., Cellular mechanisms of neocortical epileptogenesis in an acute experimental model, in: Electro-physiology of Epilepsy (P. A. Schwartzkroin and H. Wheal, eds.), Academic Press, in press.
Connors, B. W., Gutnick, M. J., and Prince, D. A., 1981, Electrophysiological properties of neocortical neurons maintained in vitro, Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 7:593.
Connors, B. W., Gutnick, M. J., and Prince, D. A., 1982, Electrophysiological properties of neocortical neurons in vitro, J. Neurophysiol. 48:1302–1320.
Connors, B. W., Benardo, L. S., and Prince, D. A., 1983, Coupling between neurons of the developing rat neocortex, J. Neurosci. 3:773–782.
Courtney, K. R. and Prince, D. A., 1977, Epileptogenesis in neocortical slices, Brain Res. 127:191–196.
Deschenes, M., LaBelle, A., and Landry, P., 1979, Morphological characterization of slow and fast pyramidal tract cells in the cat, Brain Res. 178:251–274.
Dingledine, R., Dodd, J., and Kelly, J. S., 1981, The in vitro brain slice as a useful neu-rophysiological preparation for intracellular recording, J. Neurosci. Methods 2:323–362.
Dudek, F. E., Andrew, R. D., MacVicar, B. A., Snow, R. W., and Taylor, C. P., Recent evidence for and possible significance of gap junctions and electrotonic synapses in the mammalian brain, in: Basic Mechanisms of Neuronal Hyperexcitability (H. H. Jasper and N. M. van Gelder, eds.), Alan R. Liss, Inc., New York, in press.
Feldman, M. L. and Peters, A., 1978, The forms of non-pyramidal neurons in the visual cortex of the rat, J. Comp. Neurol. 179:761–794.
Futamachi, K. J. and Pedley, T. A., 1976, Glial cells and extracellular potassium: Their relationship in mammalian cortex, Brain Res. 109:311–322.
Gabor, A. J., Scobey, R. P., and Wehrli, C. J., 1979, Relationship of epileptogenicity to cortical organization, J. Neurophysiol. 42:1609–1625.
Gage, P. W., and Quastel, D. M. J., 1965, Dual effect of potassium on transmitter release, Nature 206:625–626.
Gibson, I. M. and McIlwain, H., 1965, Continuous recording of changes in membrane potential in mammalian cerebral tissues in vitro: Recovery after depolarization by added substances, J. Physiol. (London) 176:261–283.
Gilbert, C. D. and Wiesel, T. N., 1979, Morphology and intracortical projections of functionally characterised neurones in the cat visual cortex, Nature (London) 280:120–125.
Gilbert, C. D. and Wiesel, T. N., 1981, Laminar specialization and intracortical connections in cat primary visual cortex, in: The Organization of the Cerebral Cortex (F. O. Schmitt, F. G. Worden, G. Adelman, and S. G. Dennis, eds.), MIT Press, Cambridge, pp. 163–191.
Gould, H. J. and Ebner, F. F., 1978, Interlaminar connections of the visual cortex in the hedgehog (Paraechinus hypomelas), J. Comp. Neurol. 177:503–518.
Gutnick, M. J. and Prince, D. A., 1981, Dye-coupling and possible electrotonic coupling in the guinea pig neocortical slice, Science 211:67–70.
Gutnick, M. J., Connors, B. W., and Ransom, B. R., 1981, Dye-coupling between glial cells in the guinea pig neocortical slice, Brain Res. 213:486–492.
Gutnick, M. J., Connors, B. W., and Prince, D. A., 1982a, Mechanisms of neocortical epileptogenesis in vitro, J. Neurophysiol 48:1321–1335.
Gutnick, M. J., Grossman, Y., and Carlen, P., 1982b, Epileptogenesis in subdivided neocortical slices, Neurosci. Lett. Supplement 10:5226.
Hagiwara, S. and Byerly, L., 1981, Calcium channel, Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 4:69–125.
Hille, B., Woodhull, A. M., and Shapiro, B. J., 1975, Negative surface charge near sodium channels of nerve: Divalent ions, monovalent ions and pH, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London 270:301–318.
Hillman, H. H. and McIlwain, J., 1961, Membrane potentials in mammalian cerebral tissues in vitro: Dependence on ionic environment, J. Physiol. (London) 157:263–278.
Hillman, H. H., Campbell, W. L., and Mcllwain, H., 1963, Membrane potential in isolated and electrically stimulated mammalian cerebral cortex: Effects of chlorpromazine, cocaine, phenobarbitone, and protamine on the tissue’s electrical and chemical responses to stimulation, J. Neurochem. 10:325–339.
Hodgkin, A. L., Huxley, A. F., and Katz, B., 1952, Measurement of current-voltage relations in the membrane of the giant axon of Loligo, J. Physiol. (London) 116:424–448.
Holtzman, D., Obana, K., and Olson, J., 1981, Hyperthermia-induced seizures in the rat pup: A model for febrile convulsions in children, Science 213:1034–1036.
Hubel, D. H. and Wiesel, T. N., 1974, Sequence regularity and geometry of orientation columns in the monkey striate cortex, J. Comp. Neurol. 158:267–294.
Hubel, D. H. and Wiesel, T. N., 1977, Functional architecture of macaque monkey visual cortex, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B. 198:1–59.
Kandel, E. R. and Tauc, L., 1966, Anomalous rectification in the metacerebral giant cells and its consequences for synaptic transmission, J. Physiol. (London) 183:287–304.
Kato, H. and Ogawa, T., 1981, A technique for preparing in vitro slices of cat’s visual cortex for electrophysiological experiments, J. Neurosci. Methods 4:33–38.
Kato, H., Ito, Z., Matsuoka, S., and Sakurai, Y., 1973, Electrical activities of neurons in the sliced human cortex in vitro, EEG Clin. Neurophysiol. 35:457–462.
Kelly, J. P. and Van Essen, D. C., 1974, Cell structure and function in the visual cortex of the cat, J. Physiol. (London) 238:515–547.
Knowles, W. D., Funch, P. G., and Schwartzkroin, P. A., 1982, Electrotonic and dye coupling in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells in vitro, Neuroscience 7:1713–1722.
Komatsu, Y., Toyama, K., Maeda, J., and Sakaguchi, H., 1981, Long-term potentiation investigated in a slice preparation of striate cortex of young kittens, Neurosci. Lett. 26:269–274.
Krnjevic, K., 1974, Chemical nature of synaptic transmission in vertebrates, Physiol. Rev. 54:418–540.
Krnjevic, K. and Schwartz, S., 1967, The action of gamma-aminobutyric acid on cortical neurones, Exp. Brain Res. 3:320–336.
Li, C. H. and Mcllwain, H., 1957, Maintenance of resting membrane potentials in slices of mammalian cerebral cortex and other tissues in vitro, J. Physiol. (London) 139:178–190.
Lin, C.S., Friedlander, J., and Sherman, S. M., 1979, Morphology of physiologically identified neurons in the visual cortex of the cat, Brain Res. 172:344–348.
Llinás, R. and Jahnsen, H., 1982, Electrophysiology of mammalian thalamic neurones in vitro, Nature (London) 297:406–408.
Llinás, R. and Sugimori, M., 1980, Electrophysiological properties of in vitro Purkinje cell somata in mammalian cerebellar slices, J. Physiol. (London) 305:171–195.
Llinás, R. and Yarom, Y., 1981, Electrophysiology of mammalian inferior olivary neurones in vitro. Different types of voltage-dependent ionic conductances, J. Physiol. (London) 315:549–567.
Lockton, J. W. and Holmes, O., 1980, Site of the initiation of penicillin-induced epilepsy in the cortex cerebri of the rat, Brain Res. 190:301–304.
Lorente de Nó, R., 1938, The cerebral cortex: Architecture, intracortical connections and motor projections, in: Physiology of the Nervous System (J. F. Fulton, ed.), Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 291–339.
MacVicar, B. A., Ropert, N., and Krnjevic, K., 1982, Dye-coupling between pyramidal cells of the rat hippocampus in vivo, Brain Res. 238:239–244.
Matsumoto, H. and Ajmone-Marsan, C., 1964, Cortical cellular phenomena in experimental epilepsy: Interictal manifestations, Exp. Neurol. 9:286–304.
McIlwain, H., 1951, Metabolic response in vitro to electrical stimulation of sections of mammalian brain, Biochem. J. 49:382–393.
McIlwain, H. and Ochs, S., 1952, Absence of electrical responses of brain slices on in vitro stimulation, Am. J. Physiol. 171:128–133.
Meller, K. and Tetzlaff, W., 1975, Neuronal migration during the early development of the cerebral cortex: A scanning electron microscopic study, Cell Tissue Res. 163:313–325.
Mountcastle, V. B., 1957, Modality and topographic properties of single neurons of the cat’s somatic sensory cortex, J. Neurophysiol. 20:408–434.
Mountcastle, V. B., 1978, An organizing principle for cerebral function: The unit module and the distributed system, in: The Mindful Brain (G. M. Edelman and V. B. Mountcastle, eds.), MIT Press, Cambridge, pp. 7–50.
Nelson, P. G. and Frank, K., 1967, Anomalous rectification in cat spinal motoneurons and effect of polarizing currents on excitatory postsynaptic potential, J. Neurophysiol. 30:1097–1113.
Nicoll, R. A. and Alger, B. E., 1981, Synaptic excitation may activate a calcium-dependent potassium conductance in hippocampal pyramidal cells, Science 212:957–959.
Ogawa, T., Ito, S., and Kato, H., 1981, Membrane characteristics of visual cortical neurons in in vitro slices, Brain Res. 226:315–319.
Peters, A., 1980, Morphological correlates of epilepsy: Cells in the cerebral cortex, in: Antiepileptic Drugs: Mechanisms of Action (G. H. Glaser, J. K. Penry, and D. M. Woodbury, eds.), Raven Press, New York, pp. 21–48.
Prince, D. A., 1968, The depolarization shift in “epileptic” neurons, Exp. Neurol. 21:467–485.
Prince, D. A. and Wong, R. K. S., 1981, Human epileptic neurons studied in vitro, Brain Res. 210:323–333.
Rakic, P., 1972, Mode of cell migration to the superficial layers of fetal monkey neocortex, J. Comp. Neurol. 145:61–84.
Ramón y Cajal, S., 1911, Histologie due Système Nerveux de l’homme et des Vertébrés, Volume 2 (translated by L. Azoulay), Maloine, Paris.
Richards, C. D., and Mcllwain, H., 1967, Electrical responses in brain samples, Nature (London) 215:704–707.
Rockel, A. J., Hiorns, R. W., and Powell, T. P. S., 1980, The basic uniformity in structure of the neocortex, Brain 103:221–244.
Roney, K. J., Scheibel, A. B., and Shaw, G. L., 1979, Dendritic bundles: Survey of anatomical experiments and physiological theories, Brain Res. Rev. 1:225–271.
Scholfield, C. N., 1978, Electrical properties of neurones in the olfactory cortex slice in vitro, J. Physiol. (London) 275:535–546.
Schwartzkroin, P. A. and Altschuler, R. J., 1977, Development of kitten hippocampal neurons, Brain Res. 134:429–444.
Schwartzkroin, P. A. and Kunkel, D. D., 1982, Electrophysiology and morphology of the developing hippocampus of fetal rabbits, J. Neurosci. 2:448–462.
Schwartzkroin, P. A. and Prince D. A., 1976, Microphysiology of human cerebral cortex studied in vitro, Brain Res. 115:497–500.
Schwartzkroin, P. A. and Slawsky, M., 1977, Probable calcium spikes in hippocampal neurons, Brain Res. 135:157–161.
Shaw, C. and Teyler, T. J., 1982, The neural circuitry of the neocortex examined in the in vitro brain slice preparation, Brain Res. 243:35–47.
Sloper, J. J. and Powell, T. P. S., 1978, Gap junctions between dendrites and somata of neurones in the primate sensori-motor cortex, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B 203:39–47.
Somjen, G. G., 1979, Extracellular potassium in the mammalian central nervous system, Annu. Rev. Physiol 4:159–177.
Stafstrom, C. E., Schwindt, P. C., and Crill, W. E., 1982a, Negative slope conductance due to a persistent subthreshold sodium current in cat neocortical neurons in vitro, Brain Res. 236:221–226.
Stafstrom, C. E., Schwindt, P. C., Crill, W. E., and Flatman, J. A., 1982b, Membrane currents in cat neocortical neurons in vitro, Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 8:413.
Stewart, W. W., 1978, Functional connections between cells as revealed by dye-coupling with a highly fluorescent naphthalimide tracer, Cell 14:741–759.
Szentagothai, J., 1978, The neuron network of the cerebral cortex: A functional interpretation, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B 201:219–248.
Takahashi, K., 1965, Slow and fast groups of pyramidal tract cells and their respective membrane properties, J. Neurophysiol. 28:908–924.
Teyler, T. J., 1980, Brain slice preparation: Hippocampus, Brain Res. Bull. 5:391–403.
Vogt, B. A. and Gorman, A. L. F., 1982, Responses of cortical neurons to stimulation of the corpus callosum in vitro, J. Neurophysiol. 48:1257–1273.
Welt, C., Aschoff, J. C., Kameda, K., and Brooks, V. B., 1967, Intracortical organization of cat’s motosensory neurons, in: Symposium on Neurophysiological Basis of Normal and Abnormal Motor Activities (M. D. Yahr and D. P. Purpura, eds), Raven Press, New York, pp. 255–293.
Winfield, D. A., Gatter, K. G., and Powell, T. P. S., 1980, An electron microscopic study of the types and proportions of neurons in the cortex of the motor and visual areas of the cat and rat, Brain 103:245–258.
Wise, S. P. and Jones, E. J., 1978, Developmental studies of thalamocortical and commisural connections in the rat somatic sensory cortex, J. Comp. Neurol. 178:187–208.
Woolsey, T. A. and Van der Loos, H., 1970, The structural organization of layer IV in the somatosensory region (SI) of mouse cerebral cortex. The description of a cortical field composed of discrete cytoarchitectural units, Brain Res. 17:205–242.
Yamamoto, C. and Kawai, N., 1967, Origin of the direct cortical response as studied in vitro in thin cortical sections, Experientia 23:821–822.
Yamamoto, C. and McIlwain, H., 1966, Electrical activities in thin sections from the mammalian brain maintained in chemically defined media in vitro, J. Neurochem. 13:1333–1343.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1984 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Connors, B.W., Gutnick, M.J. (1984). Neocortex. In: Dingledine, R. (eds) Brain Slices. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4583-1_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4583-1_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-4585-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-4583-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive