The Whisker Thalamus

Castro‐Alamancos, Manuel A.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-2975-7_3

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…First-order bipolar afferent neurons innervate the whisker base and synapse in the sensory trigeminal nuclei ( Lazarov, 2002 ). From here, second-order afferents project to various subcortical nuclei in the brain ( Morton, 2013 ) in complex, detailed arrangements ( Castro-Alamancos, 2015 ; Castro-Alamancos, 2002 ; Miyata & Imoto, 2006 ) (see Fig. 1 for a summary of these pathways).…”

Section: Rationale and Survey Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Corticothalamic fibres originating from cortical layer VI have especially strong synapses ( Hoogland et al, 1991 ) and are similar in strength to second-order afferent synapses ( Reichova, 2004 ) (while most other corticothalamic synapses are relatively weak). In addition to these cortical feedback mechanisms, VPM is additionally modulated by the brainstem ( Castro-Alamancos, 2015 ). In combination, these sources of inhibition, feedback, and modulation (see Fig.…”

Section: Rationale and Survey Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensing and processing whisker deflections in rodents

Burns

Rajan

2021

PeerJ

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The classical view of sensory information mainly flowing into barrel cortex at layer IV, moving up for complex feature processing and lateral interactions in layers II and III, then down to layers V and VI for output and corticothalamic feedback is becoming increasingly undermined by new evidence. We review the neurophysiology of sensing and processing whisker deflections, emphasizing the general processing and organisational principles present along the entire sensory pathway—from the site of physical deflection at the whiskers to the encoding of deflections in the barrel cortex. Many of these principles support the classical view. However, we also highlight the growing number of exceptions to these general principles, which complexify the system and which investigators should be mindful of when interpreting their results. We identify gaps in the literature for experimentalists and theorists to investigate, not just to better understand whisker sensation but also to better understand sensory and cortical processing.

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