Inhibitory DREADD manipulation induces convulsions in the secondary but not the primary somatosensory cortex, providing a clue to their functional differences

Unexpected convulsions were induced by inhibitory Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs) in the secondary but not the primary somatosensory cortex when they were expressed under the synapsin promoter. Although the underlying detailed mechanism remains unclear, the finding underscores the importance of promoter selection in chemogenetic studies and offers novel insights into the functional role of the secondary somatosensory cortex (S2) in sensorimotor integration.