The aim of this study was to investigate the corticostriatal pathways in a highly organised and topographically arranged cortical area using an intracellular <I>in vivo</I> method of the recording, filling and tracing of single corticostriatal neurons. In order to do so a successful intracellular recording protocol had to be developed (from an existing extracellular method) to ensure maximum neuronal filling. This process was an ongoing one and the various stages of development are highlighted. Alongside this a suitable biocyin method had to be developed for the visualisation of terminal fields arising from single neuronal fills. The various stages in the development of this method are also described. This study has resulted in recordings from all four types of layer V pyramidal projection neurons described <I>in vitro</I>. Whilst the morphology was identical to that observed <I>in vitro</I> for the IB and RS neurons the physiological responses to whisker deflection were more complex, especially in IB neuronal firing patterns. In general there was a lot more background synaptic activity observed in all the cellular records. The IB neurons tended to show more complex firing patterns, firing either as mainly single action potentials with occassional burst or predominantly bursts with occassional action potentials. Only rarely did they fire the typical burst firing observed <I>in vitro</I>. It was apparent from this study that the RS2 and IB1 neurons were very similar in both their physiology and morphology and were more difficult to classify.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:652776 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Hutton, Elizabeth Anne May |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/28271 |
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