Neurocomputing 65–66 (2005) 499–505 The effect of feedback inhibition on throughput properties of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus Marco A. Huertas, Jeffrey R. Groff, Gregory D. Smith à Department of Applied Science, College of William and Mary, McGlothlin-Street Hall, RM 305, Williamsburg, VA 23187, USA Available online 16 December 2004 Abstract The effect of feedback inhibition from thalamic reticular cells on retinogeniculate transmission by thalamocortical neurons of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus is analyzed using a minimal integrate-and-fire-or-burst network model. Potassium leakage conductances control the neuromodulatory state of the network and eliminate rhythmic bursting in the presence of spontaneous input. During oscillatory full-field stimulation, feedback inhibition from thalamic reticular neurons leads to thalamocortical relay neuron burst responses. Depending on average input rate, contrast level, and temporal frequency of modulation, the response of the aroused network may or may not be phase-locked to the visual stimulus. r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Thalamus; Vision; dLGN; Integrate-and-fire; Burst 1. Introduction Like other sensory thalamic nuclei, the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) controls the flow of sensory information to cortex, acting as a state-dependent gateway between the sensory periphery and higher cortical centers [4]. During sleep the principle cells of the dLGN exhibit rhythmic bursts of action potentials (APs) which do not reflect the excitatory glutamatergic drive they receive from ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/neucom 0925-2312/$-see front matter r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.neucom.2004.11.007 à Corresponding author. Tel.: +17572211989; fax: +17572212050. E-mail address: greg@as.wm.edu (G.D. Smith).