[Prolonged excitation of individual neocortical neurons. Structure of spontaneous firing].

Spontaneous firing of single neurons was studied during L-glutamate-induced stable activation in the cat cerebral cortex. The autocorrelation analysis of the trains of discharges showed, that periods of increased and decreased probability of discharges were constant in general. A single neuron seems incapable of radically affecting the interneurons connected with it. The type of spontaneous firing is mainly associated with the level of activation of the neuronal assembly where the neuron belongs.