Cellular Mechanisms of Thalamically Evoked Gamma Oscillations in Auditory Cortex

The purpose of this study was to clarify the neurogenesis of thalamically evoked gamma frequency (∼40 Hz) oscillations in auditory cortex by comparing simultaneously recorded extracellular and intracellular responses elicited with electrical stimulation of the posterior intralaminar nucleus of the thalamus (PIL). The focus of evoked gamma activity was located between primary and secondary auditory cortex using a 64-channel epipial electrode array, and all subsequent intracellular recordings and single-electrode field potential recordings were made at this location. These data indicate that PIL stimulation evokes gamma oscillations in auditory cortex by tonically depolarizing pyramidal cells in the supra- and infragranular layers. No cells revealed endogenous membrane properties capable of producing activity in the gamma frequency band when depolarized individually with injected current, but all displayed both sub- and supra-threshold responses time-locked to extracellular fast oscillations when the population was depolarized by PIL stimulation. We propose that cortical gamma oscillations may be produced and propagated intracortically by network interactions among large groups of neurons when mutually excited by modulatory input from the intralaminar thalamus and that these oscillations do not require specialized pacemaker cells for their neurogenesis.