Voltage-sensitive dye imaging analysis of functional development of the neonatal rat corticostriatal projection

►Neural activity in the neonatal rat corticostriatal system was detected optically. ►Excitatory and inhibitory synaptic responses were identified pharmacologically. ►Other excitatory transmission except for glutamate emerges until the second week. ►The GABAergic inhibitory transmission rapidly develops during the postnatal 2 weeks.