Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Kir6.2

Title: Effects of postnatal blockade of cortical activity with tetrodotoxin upon the development and plasticity of vibrissa-related patterns in the somatosensory cortex of hamsters.

Authors: N L Chiaia, S E Fish, W R Bauer, B A Figley, M Eck, C A Bennett-Clarke, R W Rhoades

Journal, date & volume: Somatosens Mot Res, 1994 , 11, 219-28

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7887054

Abstract
Several previous studies have shown that postnatal blockade of thalamocortical activity with either tetrodotoxin (TTX) or the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist D,L-2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate (APV) does not prevent the formation of vibrissa-related patterns in the primary somatosensory cortex of rats. One limitation of these studies is that this pattern forms very shortly after birth in rats, and there may be only a very limited time over which it may be influenced by activity blockade. In the present study, the effect of activity blockade was evaluated in a more altricial rodent, the hamster. The present study showed that a pattern of thalamocortical afferents corresponding to the vibrissae is not observed until the fourth postnatal day in hamsters. Nevertheless, application of TTX-impregnated implants to the cortices of newborn hamsters had no qualitative or quantitative effect upon vibrissa-related patterns in the primary somatosensory cortices of these animals. Moreover, TTX implants did not prevent the changes in patterns that followed cauterization of a row of vibrissa follicles.