Intracellular study of presumed interneurons in the ventrobasal complex of cats with chronic cortical ablations.

In a ventrobasal neuronal population surviving chronic ablation of somatosensory and motor cortices, the input-output properties of cells activated by ML fibers and showing functional characteristics of interneurons (large peripheral receptive fields, convergence of different types of receptor afferents, repetitive discharge) were studied. Since intracellular recordings showed the presence of excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials, it is argued that inhibitory interneurons also receive inhibitory inputs, suggesting that data processing in VB is more complex than hitherto postulated.