Cellular and synaptic phenotypes lead to disrupted information processing in Fmr1-KO mouse layer 4 barrel cortex

Somatosensory hypersensitivity in Fmr-1 knockout mice is thought to arise from an increase in cortical circuit excitability. Here, the authors report that the loss of precision of sensory encoding in the Layer 4 of barrel cortex is the primary developmental circuit alteration that drives the other compensatory circuit dysfunction.