Spatio-temporal subthreshold receptive fields in the vibrissa representation of rat primary somatosensory cortex. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 2882-2892, 1998. Whole cell recordings of synaptic responses evoked by deflection of individual vibrissa were obtained from neurons within adult rat primary somatosensory cortex. To define the spatial and temporal properties of subthreshold receptive fields, the spread, amplitude, latency to onset, rise time to half peak amplitude, and the balance of excitation and inhibition of subthreshold input were quantified. The convergence of information onto single neurons was found to be extensive: inputs were consistently evoked by vibrissa one- and two-away from the vibrissa that evoked the largest response (the "primary vibrissa"). Latency to onset, rise time, and the incidence and strength of inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) varied as a function of position within the receptive field and the strength of evoked excitatory input. Nonprimary vibrissae evoked smaller amplitude subthreshold responses [primary vibrissa, 9.1 +/- 0.84 (SE) mV, n = 14; 1-away, 5. 1 +/- 0.5 mV, n = 38; 2-away, 3.7 +/- 0.59 mV, n = 22; 3-away, 1.3 +/- 0.70 mV, n = 8] with longer latencies (primary vibrissa, 10.8 +/- 0.80 ms; 1-away, 15.0 +/- 1.2 ms; 2-away, 15.7 +/- 2.0 ms). Rise times were significantly faster for inputs that could evoke action potential responses (suprathreshold, 4.1 +/- 1.3 ms, n = 8; subthreshold, 12.4 +/- 1.5 ms, n = 61). In a subset of cells, sensory evoked IPSPs were examined by deflecting vibrissa during injection of hyperpolarizing and depolarizing current. The strongest IPSPs were evoked by the primary vibrissa (n = 5/5), but smaller IPSPs also were evoked by nonprimary vibrissae (n = 8/13). Inhibition peaked by 10-20 ms after the onset of the fastest excitatory input to the cortex. This pattern of inhibitory activity led to a functional reversal of the center of the receptive field and to suppression of later-arriving and slower-rising nonprimary inputs. Together, these data demonstrate that subthreshold receptive fields are on average large, and the spatio-temporal dynamics of these receptive fields vary as a function of position within the receptive field and strength of excitatory input. These findings constrain models of suprathreshold receptive field generation, multivibrissa interactions, and cortical plasticity.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 22 September 2026.
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Altmetric has tracked 34,394,092 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 72nd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 9,493 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.1. This one has done well, scoring higher than 77% of its peers.
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