Intradendritic recordings from neurons of motor cortex of cats.

The properties of neuronal spike potentials ranging from 20 to 60 mV in size were studied in stable recordings made from the motor cortex of unanesthetized, unparalyzed cats. Histologic evidence that injection of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was confined to single neurons and appropriately high levels of potassium measured with K+ ion-sensitive electrodes indicated that these recordings were obtained from single, intracellularly penetrated neurons. Pressure injection of small volumes of 4% HRP in 1 M KC1, intracellularly, was characteristically associated with transient increases in spike size and decreases in input resistance. Recoveries of HRP-filled dendritic processes without filling of somata were obtained from penetrations giving spikes smaller than the recorded resting potential (spike-undershoot recordings). Recordings with dendritic recoveries had higher input resistances and showed greater increases in spike size during pressure injection than did recordings with both somata and dendrites recovered. The activity in response to a weak click elicited in cells with spike potentials between 20 and 40 mV was as great or greater than that elicited in cells with larger spike potentials or in extracellularly recorded units. We conclude that many stable spike-undershoot recordings of neurons of the motor cortex of awake cats reflect penetrations of dendritic processes as opposed to injury because they show a) a normal functional response to weak auditory stimuli delivered over periods of many minutes, b) a reversible increase in spike size during pressure injection of small volumes of HRP in KC1 consistent with penetration of a cable remote from the site of spike generation, and c) the frequent recovery of HRP-marked dendrites without somata.