RORβ is a key layer 4 transcription factor orchestrating a critical juncture in barrel development where terminal differentiation and activity inputs are integrated to drive cellular organization in the cortex.
New evidence challenges the long-held view that motor cortex lacks a fourth layer, and reveals that its circuitry resembles that of other cortical regions more than previously thought.
Layer 4 neuronal identity is specified by Protocadherin20 positioning the neurons into layer 4 so that they receive a positional cue from thalamocortical axons.
Neocortical synapses in layer 4 of the human temporal lobe neocortex were quantitatively characterized, at the subcellular level, using high-end, high-resolution electron microscopy and 3D-volume reconstructions.
The three main types of inhibitory neurons in mouse primary visual cortex respond differently to locomotion in darkness and during visual stimulation, revealing context-dependent responses to changes in behavioral state.
In the visual system, three rules guide the thalamocortical connectivity of cortical fast-spike interneurons and are key to understand the potent and broadly tuned feed-forward inhibition that they generate.
Accumulation of perineuronal nets around parvalbumin (PV)-positive inhibitory interneurons closes visual cortical plasticity by selectively down-regulating thalamic synapses onto PV cells in a sensory-dependent manner.