Cited by 165Tactile and Sensory InteractionsNeural dynamics and brain functionNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Neuronal circuits in barrel cortex for whisker sensory perception

Open access
Staiger, Jochen F., Petersen, Carl C. H.·2021·Physiological Reviews

Abstract

The array of whiskers on the snout provides rodents with tactile sensory information relating to the size, shape and texture of objects in their immediate environment. Rodents can use their whiskers to detect stimuli, distinguish textures, locate objects and navigate. Important aspects of whisker sensation are thought to result from neuronal computations in the whisker somatosensory cortex (wS1). Each whisker is individually represented in the somatotopic map of wS1 by an anatomical unit named a 'barrel' (hence also called barrel cortex). This allows precise investigation of sensory processing in the context of a well-defined map. Here, we first review the signaling pathways from the whiskers to wS1, and then discuss current understanding of the various types of excitatory and inhibitory neurons present within wS1. Different classes of cells can be defined according to anatomical, electrophysiological and molecular features. The synaptic connectivity of neurons within local wS1 microcircuits, as well as their long-range interactions and the impact of neuromodulators, are beginning to be understood. Recent technological progress has allowed cell-type-specific connectivity to be related to cell-type-specific activity during whisker-related behaviors. An important goal for future research is to obtain a causal and mechanistic understanding of how selected aspects of tactile sensory information are processed by specific types of neurons in the synaptically connected neuronal netw…

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1152/physrev.00019.2019

Cites

726 of 726 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Epoch 2 peaks appear within a 10 ms range from first touch, consistent with the expected afferent delay from whisker follicle to barrel cortex.

    “In all cases, epoch 2 peaks appear within 10 ms range from FT, which is consistent with the expected afferent delay from whisker follicle to barrel cortex (43).”
  • Most information about whisker contact with objects is relayed through the lemniscal pathway.

    “Most information about whisker contact with objects is relayed through lemniscal pathway (8, 15, 43) (Fig. 5A).”
  • Sensory S1 and S2 cortices have strongly lateralized ipsilateral outputs and are densely and reciprocally interconnected, forming a top-down feedback loop that exhibits choice-related activity.

    “In contrast, sensory S1 and S2 cortices have strongly lateralized ipsilateral outputs (43, 59) and are densely and reciprocally interconnected (60) forming a top–down feedback loop that exhibits choice-related activity (10, 11, 22–25).”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

5 of the 731 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Staiger, J. F., & Petersen, C. C. H.
Affiliations
Universitätsmedizin Göttingen (DE)
Corresponding author
  • Staiger, Jochen F.
  • Petersen, Carl C. H.
Venue
Physiological Reviews
Published
2021-01-01
Volume
101
Issue
1
Pages
353-415
ISSN
  • 0031-9333 (ISSN-L)
  • 1522-1210
OpenAlex
W3080814453
Cited by
165
References
731
Citations by year
2026: 30 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 1
FWCI
1.86
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc-nd
Locations
  • Physiological Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
  • Swiss National Science Foundation (310030B_166595)
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (STA 431/1-1 to 14-1, CRC 889 (TPC7))
  • EC | European Research Council (ERC-2011-ADG 293660)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
barrel cortex, somatotopic map, neural circuits, excitatory and inhibitory neurons, synaptic connectivity, neuromodulation, cell-type specific connectivity, rodents
MeSH terms
Animals, Brain Diseases, Humans, Neural Pathways, Sensation, Somatosensory Cortex, Vibrissae, Signal Transduction, Mice, Brain-Computer Interfaces

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review