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These are two inverted biocytin-stained thalamocortical cells in one thalamic nuclei of the rat whisker system that is called the posterior medial nucleus. The stained axon projects to the region of the thalamic reticular nucleus. These two nuclei are reciprocally connected and play a crucial role in regulating thalamic activity. In these patch-clamp experiments the long-term plasticity of inhibitory inputs to the thalamocortical cells were studied and resulted in a non-Hebbian form of inhibitory long-term potentiation. This inhibitory long-term potentiation might be involved in sleep state-dependent modulation of thalamic information processing and thalamic oscillations.