The brain’s hidden state regulator? Members of Molnár & Vyazovskiy Labs at @ox.ac.uk @oxforddpag.bsky.social find that layer 6b— a deep layer in the cortex—helps tune electrical rhythms during waking and sleep, without controlling how long either state lasts. New in eLife: doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
![One of the first excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) recording from Sir John Eccles’ Laboratory from the University of Otago, Dunedin from 08/02/1951. The EPSP was recorded on a glass plate and was gifted to Professor Zoltán Molnár by Professor Phil Sheard after his seminar at University of Otago in December 2014. Professor Molnár donated the plate to DPAG on the celebrations of Sir John Eccles in 2026. Historic background from Stuart and Brownstone (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2011.06.007):
Intracellular (IC) recording from vertebrate neurons in the CNS was first achieved by John Eccles [1903–1997] and two younger colleagues (Lawrence Brock [1923–1996]; John Coombs [1917–1993] in Dunedin, NZL (Brock et al., 1951, Brock et al., 1952a, Brock et al., 1952b) and by J. Walter Woodbury [1923-] and Harry Patton [1918–2002] in Seattle, WA, USA (Woodbury and Patton, 1952a, Woodbury and Patton, 1952b).
Both groups began their experiments within a few weeks of each other in May–June 1951 and it has become conventional to consider them the co-pioneers of IC-recording in the CNS. This custom probably began after the June 1952 Cold Spring Harbor (NY, USA) Symposium “The Neuron”, where there were presentations from both groups. Woodbury presented the Woodbury and Patton (1952b) results, which included IC recording from spinal myelinated nerve axons, interneurons (INs) and MNs.
Woodbury's talk was preceded by that of Eccles (1952), who presented an IC recording of a MN action potential (AP), and a model of the MN's resting potential (RP), excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP), and inhibitory postsynaptic potential (IPSP), as based on the results of Brock et al., 1952a, Brock et al., 1952b. This talk and later Eccles' articles exploited the classic results of Alan Hodgkin [1914–1998] and Andrew Huxley [1917–] on the sodium and potassium currents mediating the RP and AP of the giant axons of the squid Loliga (Hodgkin and Huxley, 1952, Hodgkin et al., 1952).
At first…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2qoeohopemlmbthjkmdgdpkm/bafkreictkncsv6d5x3caju2yrk7fq62b54qzcfjiunvqpxmmdbbepccia4)
