UC Davis Biological Sciences Newsletter - Fall 1997
Study Characterizes Neurons In Visual CortexResearch at the Center for Neuroscience is making it increasingly possible for neuroscientists to "map" how the brain achieves tasks such as analyzing the features of a visual scene. Recent investigations by Postdoctoral Fellow Rony Azouz and Associate Professor Charles Gray at the center, in collaboration with Lionel Nowak and David McCormick at Yale University School of Medicine, provide direct evidence for the functional properties and morphological features of neurons that play major roles in the brain's response to visual stimulation.Using a combination of intracellular recording and biocytin staining in vivo, the researchers characterized the receptive field properties and responses to visual stimuli of fast-spiking, presumed inhibitory neurons in the primary visual cortex of the cat. Previously, information about the physiology of these neurons was obtained primarily by extrapolation from extracellular recordings. Information about these neurons, which are an integral part of complex neural circuits in the cortex, is critical to the development of schematic diagrams that show how the visual cortex works. Azouz and his colleagues report their findings in a special issue of Cerebral Cortex, the cover of which features a photomicrograph from their research report. Reference: Azouz R, Gray CM, Nowak LG, and McCormick DA 1997. Cerebral Cortex 7:534-545.
UC Davis Biological Sciences Newsletter - Fall 1997 |