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Mark Hübener

Publications and source records attributed to Mark Hübener.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Mouse visual cortex.

Neurons in mouse visual cortex have diverse receptive field properties and they respond selectively to specific features of visual stimuli. Owing to the lateral position of the eyes, only about a third of the visual cortex receives input from both eyes, but many cells in this region are binocular. Similar to higher mammals, closing one eye during a critical period shifts the responses of cells, such that they are better driven by the non-deprived eye. In this review I illustrate how the combination of transgenic mouse technology with single cell recording and modern imaging techniques might lead to a further understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the development, plasticity, and function of the mammalian visual cortex.

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PubMed2002

Visual cortex: suppression by depression?

The response of a neuron in the visual cortex to an oriented light bar is strongly reduced by concurrent presentation of a stimulus with a different orientation. New data suggest this 'cross-orientation suppression' is caused, not by intracortical inhibition, but by rapid depression of thalamocortical synapses.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Mapping retinotopic structure in mouse visual cortex with optical imaging.

We have used optical imaging of intrinsic signals to visualize the retinotopic organization of mouse visual cortex. The functionally determined position, size, and shape of area 17 corresponded precisely to the location of this area as seen in stained cortical sections. The retinotopic map, which was confirmed with electrophysiological recordings, exhibited very low inter-animal variability, thus allowing averaging of maps across animals. Patches of activity in area 17 were often encircled by regions in which the intrinsic signal dropped below baseline, suggesting the presence of strong surround inhibition. Single-unit recordings revealed that this decrease of the intrinsic signal indeed correlated with a drop of neuronal firing rate below baseline. The averaged maps also greatly facilitated the identification of extrastriate visual activity, pointing to at least four extrastriate visual areas in the mouse. We conclude that optical imaging is ideally suited to visualize retinotopic maps in mice, thus making this a powerful technique for the analysis of map structure in transgenic animals.

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