Layer 4 in primary visual cortex of the awake rabbit: contrasting properties of simple cells and putative feedforward inhibitory interneurons.

Extracellular recordings were obtained from two cell classes in layer 4 of the awake rabbit primary visual cortex (V1): putative inhibitory interneurons [suspected inhibitory interneurons (SINs)] and putative excitatory cells with simple receptive fields. SINs were identified solely by their characteristic response to electrical stimulation of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN, 3+ spikes at >600 Hz), and simple cells were identified solely by receptive field structure, requiring spatially separate ON and/or OFF subfields. Notably, no cells met both criteria, and we studied 62 simple cells and 33 SINs. Fourteen cells met neither criterion. These layer 4 populations were markedly distinct. Thus, SINs were far less linear (F1/F0 < 1), more broadly tuned to stimulus orientation, direction, spatial and temporal frequency, more sensitive to contrast, had much higher spontaneous and stimulus-driven activity, and always had spatially overlapping ON/OFF receptive subfields. SINs responded to drifting gratings with increased firing rates (F0) for all orientations and directions. However, some SINs showed a weaker modulated (F1) response sharply tuned to orientation and/or direction. SINs responded at shorter latencies than simple cells to stationary stimuli, and the responses of both populations could be sustained or transient. Transient simple cells were more sensitive to contrast than sustained simple cells and their visual responses were more frequently suppressed by high contrasts. Finally, cross-correlation between LGN and SIN spike trains confirmed a fast and precisely timed monosynaptic connectivity, supporting the notion that SINs are well suited to provide a fast feedforward inhibition onto targeted cortical populations.