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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 577/1/155    most recent jphysiol.2006.117523v1 Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by McCabe, A. K. Articles by Moody, W. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by McCabe, A. K. Articles by Moody, W. J. Related Collections Neuroscience

¹ Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA

Waves of spontaneous electrical activity that are highly synchronized across large populations of neurones occur throughout the developing mammalian central nervous system. The stages at which this activity occurs are tightly regulated to allow activity-dependent developmental programmes to be initiated correctly. What determines the onset and cessation of spontaneous synchronous activity (SSA) in a particular region of the nervous system, however, remains unclear. We have tested the hypothesis that activity itself triggers developmental changes in intrinsic and circuit properties that determine the stages at which SSA occurs. To do this we exposed cultured slices of mouse neocortex to tetrodotoxin (TTX) to block SSA, which normally occurs between embryonic day 17 (E17) and postnatal day 3 (P3). In control cultured slices, SSA rarely occurs after P3. In TTX-treated slices, however, SSA was generated from P3 (the day of TTX removal) until at least P10. This indicates that in the absence of spontaneous activity, the mechanisms that normally determine the timing of SSA are not initiated, and that a compensatory response occurs that shifts the time of SSA occurrence to later developmental stages.

(Received 18 July 2006; accepted after revision 24 August 2006; first published online 31 August 2006)
Corresponding author W.J. Moody: Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Email: profbill{at}u.washington.edu

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