Sermet, B. SemihcanTruschow, PavelFeyerabend, MichaelMayrhofer, Johannes M.Oram, Tess B.Yizhar, OferStaiger, Jochen F.Petersen, Carl C. H.2020-01-052020-01-052020-01-052019-12-2010.7554/eLife.52665https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/164347WOS:000504005600001Mouse primary somatosensory barrel cortex (wS1) processes whisker sensory information, receiving input from two distinct thalamic nuclei. The first-order ventral posterior medial (VPM) somatosensory thalamic nucleus most densely innervates layer 4 (L4) barrels, whereas the higher-order posterior thalamic nucleus (medial part, POm) most densely innervates L1 and L5A. We optogenetically stimulated VPM or POm axons, and recorded evoked excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in different cell-types across cortical layers in wS1. We found that excitatory neurons and parvalbumin-expressing inhibitory neurons received the largest EPSPs, dominated by VPM input to L4 and POm input to L5A. In contrast, somatostatin-expressing inhibitory neurons received very little input from either pathway in any layer. Vasoactive intestinal peptide-expressing inhibitory neurons received an intermediate level of excitatory input with less apparent layer-specificity. Our data help understand how wS1 neocortical microcircuits might process and integrate sensory and higher-order inputs.BiologyLife Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topicsexpressing gabaergic neuronsmembrane-potential dynamicsintrinsic firing patternspyramidal neuronscortical interneuronssynaptic responsesprojection neuronsreceptive-fieldsdriver linesinhibitiontext::journal::journal article::research article