We have used whole cell recording in the anesthetized rat to study whisker-evoked synaptic and spiking responses of single neurons in the barrel cortex. On the basis of their intrinsic firing patterns, neurons could be classified as either regular-spiking (RS) cells, intrinsically burst-spiking (IB) cells, or fast-spiking (FS) cells. Some recordings responded to current injection with a complex...

Classically, the rat ventral posterior medial (VPM) nucleus of the thalamus has been considered as a simple passive relay for single-whisker information to the primary somatosensory cortex (SI). However, recent reports have suggested that the VPM could contain a much more coarsely coded and spatiotemporally complex representation of the rat whisker pad. To address this possibility properly, we ...

Zn particulates overlaid with wurtzite (W)-type ZnO condensates having nearly orthogonal {101̄1} and {112̄1} facets were found to self-catalyze unusual tapered W-ZnO whiskers upon isothermal atmospheric annealing, i.e., thermal oxidation, at 600 °C. Analytical electron microscopic observations indicated that such whiskers formed tapered slabs having mosaic {101̄1} and {21̄1̄1} twinned domains. The t...

In recent years, concerns about environmental waste caused by petroleum-derived chemicals as well as the consumer's demand for high quality food products, have prompted people to pay more attention to developing biodegradable food packaging materials using natural resources such as cellulose fibers and chitin derivatives. In this study, chitin whiskers have been successfully generated by hydrol...

Most mammals have whiskers; however, nearly everything we know about whiskers derives from just a handful of species, including laboratory rats Rattus norvegicus and mice Mus musculus, as well some species pinniped marsupial. We explore the extent to which knowledge whisker system applies generally. This will help us understand evolution function, in order gain more insights into mammalian beha...

Nowadays, SiC is one of the refractory materials which is used widespread because of its unique properties like structural stability in high temperatures. SiC nano whiskers are important in reinforcement of different kinds of composites like ceramic base materials, thanks to their outstanding mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties like low expansion coefficient, high thermal resistant, hi...

Cortical reorganization following sensory deprivation is characterized by alterations in the connectivity between neurons encoding spared and deprived cortical inputs. The extent to which this alteration depends on Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP), however, is largely unknown. We quantified changes in the functional connectivity between layer V neurons in the vibrissal primary somatosen...

Whiskers and needles of F-rich vesuvianite were found together with diopside in cavities of an altered magnesian skarn in the Tas–Khayakhtakh Mountains of Polar Yakutia, in Russia. The acicular crystals are strongly zoned and formed between two generations of diopside. The chemical composition of the vesuvianite whiskers is more homogeneous and resembles that of the outermost rim of the vesuvia...

Rodents in their natural environment use their whiskers to distinguish between surfaces having subtly different textures and shapes. They do so by actively sweeping their whiskers across surfaces in a rhythmic motion. To determine how textures are transformed into vibration signals in whiskers and how these vibrations are expressed in neuronal discharges, we induced active whisking in anestheti...

Male Wistar rats were exposed to two types ofmagnesium sulphate whiskers by inhalation for six hours a day, five days a week, for four weeks (sub-chronic study), or for one year (chronic study) to clarify the biological effects of the whiskers. There were few whiskers detected in the rat lungs even at one day after the exposure, suggesting that they are dissolved and eliminated rapidly from the...