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Stramproy, the Netherlands
Biomedical Sciences, Clinical Human Movement Sciences
How does our brain translate sensory information that was acquired by receptors in our periphery into behavioural relevant information? Currently we are still only beginning to understand what the basic neuronal mechanisms are that allow such signal processing. It is established that in primary sensory cortices a crucial part of the processing of sensory information takes place. In all mammals, tactile information (touch) enters the so-called primary somatosensory cortex through axon fibres from the thalamus. After extensive and complex intracortical signal processing, involving complex interaction between cortical laminas and cortical columns, this information is transmitted to other cortical areas or to subcortical areas.
To investigate the laminar and columnar dependence of neural activity propagation in the primary somatosensory cortex we will make use of a well-established model system that combines a good comparability with the human somatosensory system with a very clear structural organisation: acute in vitro brain slice preparations containing crucial parts of the thalamus as well as the primary somatosensory cortex (=barrel cortex) of rats. Under skilled supervision a novel methodological approach will be established in which we will stimulate and record different local populations of neurons (local field potentials recorded by using multielectrode arrays. An advantage of this method is its high temporal resolution in combination with the possibility of recording from up to 63 different intracortical positions simultaneously.
Apart from establishing a new line of research in Nijmegen the resulting data will be compared with functional data obtained from previous studies using a different methodological approach and will be used for getting a better understanding of the complex properties of intracortical signal flow following thalamic input.
08/2007
