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Layer‐specific thalamocortical innervation in organotypic cultures is prevented by substances that alter neural activity
Author(s) -
Anderson Gillian,
Price David J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1460-9568.2002.02069.x
Subject(s) - neuroscience , thalamus , tetrodotoxin , neural activity , in vitro , layer (electronics) , cortex (anatomy) , axon guidance , biological neural network , biology , chemistry , axon , biophysics , biochemistry , organic chemistry
Summary Cortical layer IV is the major target of thalamocortical axons and many previous studies have shown that the development of this layer‐specific innervation can be modelled in vitro by organotypic cocultures of thalamus and cortex. The mechanisms causing thalamic axons to terminate in layer IV are unknown. We used these in vitro models to test the possibility that neural activity plays a part in this termination process by adding substances that raise or lower levels of neural activity to the cocultures. We found that addition of tetrodotoxin or 2‐amino‐5‐phosphonovalerate, to block activity, or potassium, to raise it, all interfered with termination in layer IV. These findings suggest that termination in layer IV requires neural activity at an appropriate level in the thalamocortical system. They also add support to recent findings that show that the importance of neural activity in development may extend to an earlier period than thought previously, to include the correct targeting of axons as well as the later refinement of connections.