File:Vibrissalthalamicmodes-fig1.gif

Main components of the thalamocortical network and intracellular responses of a VPM thalamocortical cell to medial lemniscus (lemniscal) fiber stimulation in a slice preparation. The cell is held at different membrane potentials within the tonic firing and burst modes. Electrical stimulation of the lemniscal fibers consists of 4 puses at 10 Hz. Each train of pulses is delivered every 10 sec, so the first pulse arrives at low frequency. Because lemniscal EPSPs depress at high frequencies, the stimulus only evokes spikes to the high frequency pulses when the cell is well depolarized within the tonic mode.