Journal of Neurophysiology, Vol 64, Issue 4 1212-1222, Copyright © 1990 by APS

ARTICLES

Electrophysiological studies of acetylcholine and the role of the basal forebrain in the somatosensory cortex of the cat. II. Cortical neurons excited by somatic stimuli

N. Tremblay, R. A. Warren and R. W. Dykes
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

1. Of the sample of 322 neurons located in somatosensory cortex and tested for their responsiveness to somatic stimulation, 91 (28%) responded to stimuli applied to the skin. The majority were located in the middle cortical layers. Each of the cells subjected to tests with glutamate and acetylcholine (ACh) was rapidly adapting to cutaneous stimuli, giving a response at the onset of skin indentation and sometimes after the stimulus withdrawal. 2. Of the 30 cells tested by pairing basal forebrain (BF) stimulation with cutaneous stimulation. 18 (60%) displayed enhanced responses to the same cutaneous stimulus after the pairing. These effects lasted for greater than 5 min in 17 cases, persisting for as long as the cell was studied, sometimes greater than 1 h. 3. The enhanced responsiveness to cutaneous stimuli could not be reversed by atropine, but in each of the 11 cells where atropine was administered while the BF stimulus was paired with the skin stimulus, the pairing produced no enhancement. 4. We conclude that pairing a BF stimulus with a cutaneous stimulus leads to long-term facilitation of the responsiveness of the cortical neuron subjected to this treatment and that this effect is mediated by the release of acetylcholine from BF cholinergic neurons that act on muscarinic receptors found on neurons in the somatosensory cortex.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M.-F. Kuo, J. Grosch, F. Fregni, W. Paulus, and M. A. Nitsche Focusing Effect of Acetylcholine on Neuroplasticity in the Human Motor Cortex J. Neurosci., December 26, 2007; 27(52): 14442 - 14447. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. W. Berg, B. Friedman, L. F. Schroeder, and D. Kleinfeld Activation of Nucleus Basalis Facilitates Cortical Control of a Brain Stem Motor Program J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2005; 94(1): 699 - 711. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. A. Erchova and M. E. Diamond Rapid Fluctuations in Rat Barrel Cortex Plasticity J. Neurosci., June 30, 2004; 24(26): 5931 - 5941. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Pepeu and M. G. Giovannini Changes in Acetylcholine Extracellular Levels During Cognitive Processes Learn. Mem., January 1, 2004; 11(1): 21 - 27. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Bao, E. F. Chang, J. D. Davis, K. T. Gobeske, and M. M. Merzenich Progressive Degradation and Subsequent Refinement of Acoustic Representations in the Adult Auditory Cortex J. Neurosci., November 26, 2003; 23(34): 10765 - 10775. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. Ji, E. Gao, and N. Suga Effects of Acetylcholine and Atropine on Plasticity of Central Auditory Neurons Caused by Conditioning in Bats J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2001; 86(1): 211 - 225. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. P. Kilgard, P. K. Pandya, J. Vazquez, A. Gehi, C. E. Schreiner, and M. M. Merzenich Sensory Input Directs Spatial and Temporal Plasticity in Primary Auditory Cortex J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2001; 86(1): 326 - 338. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. Ego-Stengel, D. E. Shulz, S. Haidarliu, R. Sosnik, and E. Ahissar Acetylcholine-Dependent Induction and Expression of Functional Plasticity in the Barrel Cortex of the Adult Rat J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2001; 86(1): 422 - 437. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. N. S. Sachdev, S.-M. Lu, R. G. Wiley, and F. F. Ebner Role of the Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Projection in Somatosensory Cortical Plasticity J Neurophysiol, June 1, 1998; 79(6): 3216 - 3228. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]