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Calcium channel types contributing to excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission between individual hypothalamic neurons

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  • Neurophysiology, muscle and sensory organs
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Abstract

The contribution of L-, N-, P- and Q-type Ca2+ channels to excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission and to whole-cell Ba2+ currents through Ca2+ channels (Ba2+ currents) was investigated in rat hypothalamic neurons grown in dissociated cell culture. Excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs and IPSCs) were evoked by stimulating individual neurons under whole-cell patch-clamp conditions. The different types of high-voltage-activated (HVA) Ca2+ channels were identified using nifedipine, ω -Conus geographus toxin VIA (ω-CTx GVIA), ω -Agelenopsis aperta toxin IVA (ω-Aga IVA), and ω -Conus magus toxin VIIC (ω-CTx MVIIC). N-, but not P- or Q-type Ca2+ channels contributed to excitatory as well as inhibitory synaptic transmission together with Ca2+ channels resistant to the aforementioned Ca2+ channel blockers (resistant Ca2+ channels). Reduction of postsynaptic current (PSC) amplitudes by N-type Ca2+ channel blockers was significantly stronger for IPSCs than for EPSCs. In most neurons whole-cell Ba2+ currents were carried by L-type Ca2+ channels and by at least two other Ca2+ channel types, one of which is probably of the Q-type and the others are resistant Ca2+ channels. These results indicate a different contribution of the various Ca2+ channel types to excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission and to whole-cell currents in these neurons and suggest different functional roles for the distinct Ca2+ channel types.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Experimentelle und Klinische Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Universitätsstrasse 22, D-91054, Erlangen, Germany

    Hanns Ulrich Zeilhofer & Dieter Swandulla

  2. Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysikalische Chemie, Abteilung Membranbiophysik, Am Fassberg 11, D-37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Thomas H. Müller

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  1. Hanns Ulrich Zeilhofer
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  2. Thomas H. Müller
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Zeilhofer, H.U., Müller, T.H. & Swandulla, D. Calcium channel types contributing to excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission between individual hypothalamic neurons. Pflugers Arch. 432, 248–257 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004240050131

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004240050131

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