Abstract: | In acute experiments on cats under chloralose anesthesia (70 mg/kg) unit activity was recorded extra- and intracellularly in the sensomotor cortex (areas 4 and 6) during prolonged (up to 1000 msec) photic stimulation. Responses of on-off type were generated by 100% of neurons tested to photic stimuli whose duration corresponded to the recovery cycle of functional changes after a single flash, determined by the paired stimulation method. Cutaneous stimulation affected the appearance of the photic off response if it led to a spike discharge of the neuron before the off response. It is suggested that IPSPs of cortical neurons largely determine both the duration of the cycle of functional recovery after a single flash and also differences in the pattern of generation of the off response and its interaction with responses to cutaneous stimulation.A. A. Zhdanov Leningrad State University. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 355–360, July–August, 1977. |