Neuroscience Forefront ReviewEarly gamma oscillations

- Early gamma oscillations are transiently expressed in neonatal rat barrel cortex.
- Feedforward gamma-rhythmic input from thalamus is essential for EGOs.
- GABAergic inhibition plays little role in EGOs.
- EGOs bind thalamus and cortex and support spike-time-dependent plasticity.
- Inhibition based “adult” gamma oscillations emerge late in development.

Gamma oscillations have long been considered to emerge late in development. However, recent studies have revealed that gamma oscillations are transiently expressed in the rat barrel cortex during the first postnatal week, a “critical” period of sensory-dependent barrel map formation. The mechanisms underlying the generation and physiological roles of early gamma oscillations (EGOs) in the development of thalamocortical circuits will be discussed in this review. In contrast to adult gamma oscillations, synchronized through gamma-rhythmic perisomatic inhibition, EGOs are primarily driven through feedforward gamma-rhythmic excitatory input from the thalamus. The recruitment of cortical interneurons to EGOs and the emergence of feedforward inhibition are observed by the end of the first postnatal week. EGOs facilitate the precise synchronization of topographically aligned thalamic and cortical neurons. The multiple replay of sensory input during EGOs supports long-term potentiation at thalamocortical synapses. We suggest that this early form of gamma oscillations, which is mechanistically different from adult gamma oscillations, guides barrel map formation during the critical developmental period.