Dataset of the study "Propagating population activity patterns during spontaneous slow waves in the thalamus of rodents"

Here, we report propagating population activity in the thalamus of ketamine/xylazine-anesthetized rats and mice visualized by high-density silicon probe recordings. In both rodent species, propagation of spontaneous thalamic activity during up-states was most frequently observed in dorsal thalamic nuclei such as the higher order posterior (Po), lateral posterior (LP) or laterodorsal (LD) nuclei. The preferred direction of thalamic activity spreading was along the dorsoventral axis, with over half of the up-states exhibiting a gradual propagation in the ventral-to-dorsal direction.

Furthermore, simultaneous neocortical and thalamic recordings demonstrated that there is a weak but noticeable interrelation between propagation patterns observed during cortical up-states and those displayed by thalamic population activity. In addition, using chronically implanted silicon probes, we detected propagating activity patterns in the thalamus of naturally sleeping rats during slow-wave sleep. However, in comparison to propagating up-states observed under anesthesia, these propagating patterns were characterized by a reduced rate of occurrence and a faster propagation speed.

Our findings suggest that the propagation of spontaneous population activity is an intrinsic property of the thalamocortical network during synchronized brain states such as deep sleep or anesthesia. Additionally, our data implies that the neocortex may have partial control over the formation of propagation patterns within the dorsal thalamus.