ISSN:
1460-9568
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Response properties of neurons in brain slices of guinea pig parietal neocortex were examined following intracellular injection of the Ca2+ chelators, EGTA and BAPTA. Although chelator injection did not cause any consistent change in passive membrane properties, it did induce 81% of neurons encountered at all sub-pial depths to become ‘bursters’, in that just-threshold depolarizing current pulses triggered all-or-none bursts of 2–5 fast action potentials. Transition to ‘burstiness’ was associated with disappearance of an AHP and appearance of a DAP. Although chelator caused a slight increase in steady-state firing rate, marked accommodation persisted. Extracellular Co2+ or Mn2+ had an effect on steady-state firing rate similar to that of the intracellular chelators; however, exposure to these Ca2+ channel blockers also caused steady state depolarization, increased resting input resistance and time constant, and profound spike broadening. This treatment never induced transition to ‘burstiness’. Chelator-injected neurons ceased to generate bursts when Ca2+ was replaced by Mn2+ in the Ringer's solution. During exposure to 10−6 M TTX and 20 mM TEA, 50–200 msec Ca2+ spikes followed brief depolarizing pulses. As chelator was injected into the cell, there was progressive prolongation of the Ca2+ plateaus, which was associated with slowing of the rate at which membrane resistance gradually recovered following the initial increase in conductance.These findings indicate that under normal conditions, activity-related increases in intracellular Ca2+ activate processes which prevent most neocortical neurons from being bursters. These processes probably include Ca2+ -dependent K+ currents, and Ca2+ -dependent Ca2+ channel inactivation.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-9568.1989.tb00802.x
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