Authors
Revah O, Wolf F, Gutnick MJ, Neef A
Journal
Biorxiv
Citation
bioRxiv 2024.02.15.580451.
Abstract
Cortical function reflects the activities of populations of neurons. How accurately they can encode information depends on the speed with which each neuron can respond to input, as revealed by dynamic gain analysis. Theory predicts that the determinants of a population’s dynamic gain – cell number, cell size and the correlation time of the background noise – control the speed with which the population can respond to input. Because the constituents of a neuronal population change from moment to moment, experimental confirmation of these predictions has not been feasible. Here, we study a stable, defined neuronal population with known input and connectivity: spiny stellate cells in layer 4 of rodent barrel cortex. We confirm predictions as to the impacts of cell size and input correlation time and we demonstrate that these disparate factors are precisely matched with the number of neurons in layer 4, such that even a single thalamocortical spike at the input is reliably reflected in the population output. We further show that the speed with which the spike-generation machinery can respond is modulated by the channels that mediate M-current, suggesting that coding in layer 4 may vary as a function of brain state.
