Canonical connectivity of cortical principal cells

摘要

Sensory information arrives from primary thalamus into all cortical layers, but most densely into L4 and the L5-L6 border954'95. Contextual inputs from higher-order cortex and thalamus most densely target L1, L5 and L6, but avoid L4 (refs 2, 9). These inputs are integrated by a diverse array of cortical cell types. The figure shows a current understanding of the connectivity between the major principal cell classes of sensory cortex. Line thickness represents the strength of a pathway; question marks indicate connections that appear likely but have not yet been directly demonstrated.