Synaptic mechanisms underlying cholinergic control of thalamic reticular nucleus neurons

Biphasic cholinergic synaptic transmission controls action potential activity in thalamic reticular nucleus neurons.

Cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain and the brainstem form extensive projections to a number of thalamic nuclei. Activation of cholinergic afferents during distinct behavioral states can regulate neuronal firing, transmitter release at glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses, and synchrony in thalamic networks, thereby controlling the flow of sensory information. These effects are thought t...

Intrinsic and Synaptic Membrane Properties of Neurons in the Thalamic Reticular Nucleus

Slow recovery from excitation of thalamic reticular nucleus neurons.

Responses to repeated auditory stimuli were examined in 103 neurons in the auditory region of the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) and in 20 medial geniculate (MGB) neurons of anesthetized rats. A further six TRN neurons were recorded from awake rats. The TRN neurons showed strong responses to the first trial and weak responses to the subsequent trials of repeated auditory stimuli and electrica...

GABAergic synaptic transmission triggers action potentials in thalamic reticular nucleus neurons.

GABAergic neurons in the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) form powerful inhibitory connections with several dorsal thalamic nuclei, thereby controlling attention, sensory processing, and synchronous oscillations in the thalamocortical system. TRN neurons are interconnected by a network of GABAergic synapses, but their properties and their role in shaping TRN neuronal activity are not well under...

Mechanisms underlying desynchronization of cholinergic-evoked thalamic network activity.

Synchronous neuronal activity in the thalamocortical system is critical for a number of behaviorally relevant computations, but hypersynchrony can limit information coding and lead to epileptiform responses. In the somatosensory thalamus, afferent inputs are transformed by networks of reciprocally connected thalamocortical neurons in the ventrobasal nucleus (VB) and GABAergic neurons in the tha...