scholarly journals Homeostatic recovery of embryonic spinal activity initiated by compensatory changes in resting membrane potential

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Gonzalez-Islas ◽  
Miguel Angel Garcia-Bereguiain ◽  
Peter Wenner
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Homeostatic Plasticity ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Resting Membrane Potential ◽  
Receptor Blockade ◽  
Homeostatic Mechanism ◽  
Voltage Gated ◽  
Baseline Activity

AbstractWhen baseline activity in a neuronal network is modified by external challenges, a set of mechanisms is prompted to homeostatically restore activity levels. These homeostatic mechanisms are thought to be profoundly important in the maturation of the network. We have previously shown that 2-day blockade of either excitatory GABAergic or glutamatergic transmission in the living embryo transiently blocks the movements generated by spontaneous network activity (SNA) in the spinal cord. However, by 2 hours of persistent receptor blockade embryonic movements begin to recover, and by 12 hours we observe a complete homeostatic recovery in vivo. Compensatory changes in voltage-gated conductances in motoneurons were observed by 12 hours of blockade, but not changes in synaptic strength. It was unclear whether changes in voltage-gated conductances were observed by 2 hours of blockade when the recovery actually begins. Further, compensatory changes in voltage-gated conductances were not observed following glutamatergic blockade where embryonic movements were blocked but then recovered in a similar manner to GABAergic blockade. In this study, we discover a mechanism for homeostatic recovery in these first hours of neurotransmitter receptor blockade. In the first 6 hours of GABAergic or glutamatergic blockade there was a clear depolarization of resting membrane potential in both motoneurons and interneurons. These changes reduced action potential threshold and were mainly observed in the continued presence of the antagonist. Therefore, it appears that fast changes in resting membrane potential represent a key fast homeostatic mechanism for the maintenance of network activity in the living embryonic nervous system.SignificanceHomeostatic plasticity represents a set of mechanisms that act to recover cellular or network activity following a challenge to that activity and is thought to be critical for the developmental construction of the nervous system. The chick embryo afforded us the opportunity to observe in a living developing system the timing of the homeostatic recovery of network activity following 2 distinct perturbations. Because of this advantage, we have identified a novel homeostatic mechanism that actually occurs as the network recovers and is therefore likely to contribute to nervous system homeostasis. We found that a depolarization of the resting membrane potential in the first hour of the perturbations enhances excitability and supports the recovery of embryonic spinal network activity.

scholarly journals In Vivo Neocortical [K]o Modulation by Targeted Stimulation of Astrocytes

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (16) ◽  
pp. 8658
Author(s):  
Azin EbrahimAmini ◽  
Shanthini Mylvaganam ◽  
Paolo Bazzigaluppi ◽  
Mohamad Khazaei ◽  
Alexander Velumian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Potassium Ion ◽  
Ion Concentration ◽  
Extracellular Potassium ◽  
Spreading Depolarization ◽  
Potential Tool ◽  
Stimulation Of

A normally functioning nervous system requires normal extracellular potassium ion concentration ([K]o). Throughout the nervous system, several processes, including those of an astrocytic nature, are involved in [K]o regulation. In this study we investigated the effect of astrocytic photostimulation on [K]o. We hypothesized that in vivo photostimulation of eNpHR-expressing astrocytes leads to a decreased [K]o. Using optogenetic and electrophysiological techniques we showed that stimulation of eNpHR-expressing astrocytes resulted in a significantly decreased resting [K]o and evoked K responses. The amplitude of the concomitant spreading depolarization-like events also decreased. Our results imply that astrocytic membrane potential modification could be a potential tool for adjusting the [K]o.

scholarly journals Homeostatic plasticity rules control the wiring of axo-axonic synapses at the axon initial segment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Pan-Vazquez ◽  
Winnie Wefelmeyer ◽  
Victoria Gonzalez Sabater ◽  
Juan Burrone
Keyword(s):  
Initial Segment ◽  
Pyramidal Cells ◽  
Axon Initial Segment ◽  
Homeostatic Plasticity ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Gabaergic Interneuron ◽  
Chandelier Cells ◽  
Local Circuits ◽  
And Function

AbstractGABAergic interneurons are chiefly responsible for controlling the activity of local circuits in the cortex1,2. However, the rules that govern the wiring of interneurons are not well understood3. Chandelier cells (ChCs) are a type of GABAergic interneuron that control the output of hundreds of neighbouring pyramidal cells through axo-axonic synapses which target the axon initial segment (AIS)4. Despite their importance in modulating circuit activity, our knowledge of the development and function of axo-axonic synapses remains elusive. In this study, we investigated the role of activity in the formation and plasticity of ChC synapses. In vivo imaging of ChCs during development uncovered a narrow window (P12-P18) over which axons arborized and formed connections. We found that increases in the activity of either pyramidal cells or individual ChCs during this temporal window resulted in a reversible decrease in axo-axonic connections. Voltage imaging of GABAergic transmission at the AIS showed that axo-axonic synapses were depolarising during this period. Identical manipulations of network activity in older mice (P40-P46), when ChC synapses are inhibitory, resulted in an increase in axo-axonic synapses. We propose that the direction of ChC plasticity follows homeostatic rules that depend on the polarity of axo-axonic synapses.

Hormonal Signaling Actions on Kv7.1 (KCNQ1) Channels

2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 381-400
Author(s):  
Emely Thompson ◽  
Jodene Eldstrom ◽  
David Fedida
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Action Potential ◽  
Cardiac Action Potential ◽  
Resting Membrane Potential ◽  
Voltage Gated ◽  
M Current ◽  
Kv7 Channels ◽  
Cardiac Action ◽  
Repolarization Phase ◽  
And Control

Kv7 channels (Kv7.1–7.5) are voltage-gated K+ channels that can be modulated by five β-subunits (KCNE1–5). Kv7.1-KCNE1 channels produce the slow-delayed rectifying K+ current, IKs, which is important during the repolarization phase of the cardiac action potential. Kv7.2–7.5 are predominantly neuronally expressed and constitute the muscarinic M-current and control the resting membrane potential in neurons. Kv7.1 produces drastically different currents as a result of modulation by KCNE subunits. This flexibility allows the Kv7.1 channel to have many roles depending on location and assembly partners. The pharmacological sensitivity of Kv7.1 channels differs from that of Kv7.2–7.5 and is largely dependent upon the number of β-subunits present in the channel complex. As a result, the development of pharmaceuticals targeting Kv7.1 is problematic. This review discusses the roles and the mechanisms by which different signaling pathways affect Kv7.1 and KCNE channels and could potentially provide different ways of targeting the channel.

Homeostatic Plasticity in the CNS

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Wenner ◽  
Pernille Bülow
Keyword(s):  
Homeostatic Plasticity ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Signaling Cascades ◽  
Neural Function ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Membrane Excitability ◽  
Activity Burst ◽  
Intrinsic Plasticity

Homeostatic plasticity refers to a collection of mechanisms that function to homeostatically maintain some feature of neural function. The field began with the view that homeostatic plasticity exists predominantly for the maintenance of spike rate. However, it has become clear that multiple features undergo some form of homeostatic control, including network activity, burst rate, or synaptic strength. There are several different forms of homeostatic plasticity, which are typically triggered following perturbations in activity levels. Homeostatic intrinsic plasticity (HIP) appears to compensate for the perturbation with changes in membrane excitability (voltage-gated conductances); synaptic scaling is thought to be a multiplicative increase or decrease of synaptic strengths throughout the cell following an activity perturbation; presynaptic homeostatic plasticity is a change in probability of release following a perturbation to postsynaptic receptor activity. Each form of homeostatic plasticity can be different in terms of the mechanisms that are engaged, the feature that is homeostatically regulated, the trigger that initiates the compensation, and the signaling cascades that mediate these processes. Homeostatic plasticity is often described in development, but can extend into maturity and has been described in vitro and in vivo.

scholarly journals A Method to Estimate Synaptic Conductances From Membrane Potential Fluctuations

2004 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 2884-2896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Rudolph ◽  
Zuzanna Piwkowska ◽  
Mathilde Badoual ◽  
Thierry Bal ◽  
Alain Destexhe
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Intracellular Recordings ◽  
Neocortical Neurons ◽  
Underlying Network ◽  
Analytic Expression ◽  
Synaptic Conductances

In neocortical neurons, network activity can activate a large number of synaptic inputs, resulting in highly irregular subthreshold membrane potential ( Vm) fluctuations, commonly called “synaptic noise.” This activity contains information about the underlying network dynamics, but it is not easy to extract network properties from such complex and irregular activity. Here, we propose a method to estimate properties of network activity from intracellular recordings and test this method using theoretical and experimental approaches. The method is based on the analytic expression of the subthreshold Vm distribution at steady state in conductance-based models. Fitting this analytic expression to Vm distributions obtained from intracellular recordings provides estimates of the mean and variance of excitatory and inhibitory conductances. We test the accuracy of these estimates against computational models of increasing complexity. We also test the method using dynamic-clamp recordings of neocortical neurons in vitro. By using an on-line analysis procedure, we show that the measured conductances from spontaneous network activity can be used to re-create artificial states equivalent to real network activity. This approach should be applicable to intracellular recordings during different network states in vivo, providing a characterization of the global properties of synaptic conductances and possible insight into the underlying network mechanisms.

scholarly journals Tuning voltage-gated channel activity and cellular excitability with a sphingomyelinase

2013 ◽  
Vol 142 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Combs ◽  
Hyeon-Gyu Shin ◽  
Yanping Xu ◽  
Yajamana Ramu ◽  
Zhe Lu
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Resting Membrane Potential ◽  
Xenopus Laevis Oocytes ◽  
Channel Activity ◽  
Excitable Cells ◽  
Voltage Sensors ◽  
Voltage Gated ◽  
Activated State ◽  
Gated Channel

Voltage-gated ion channels generate action potentials in excitable cells and help set the resting membrane potential in nonexcitable cells like lymphocytes. It has been difficult to investigate what kinds of phospholipids interact with these membrane proteins in their native environments and what functional impacts such interactions create. This problem might be circumvented if we could modify specific lipid types in situ. Using certain voltage-gated K+ (KV) channels heterologously expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes as a model, our group has shown previously that sphingomyelinase (SMase) D may serve this purpose. SMase D is known to remove the choline group from sphingomyelin, a phospholipid primarily present in the outer leaflet of plasma membranes. This SMase D action lowers the energy required for voltage sensors of a KV channel to enter the activated state, causing a hyperpolarizing shift of the Q-V and G-V curves and thus activating them at more hyperpolarized potentials. Here, we find that this SMase D effect vanishes after removing most of the voltage-sensor paddle sequence, a finding supporting the notion that SMase D modification of sphingomyelin molecules alters these lipids’ interactions with voltage sensors. Then, using SMase D to probe lipid–channel interactions, we find that SMase D not only similarly stimulates voltage-gated Na+ (NaV) and Ca2+ channels but also markedly slows NaV channel inactivation. However, the latter effect is not observed in tested mammalian cells, an observation highlighting the profound impact of the membrane environment on channel function. Finally, we directly demonstrate that SMase D stimulates both native KV1.3 in nonexcitable human T lymphocytes at their typical resting membrane potential and native NaV channels in excitable cells, such that it shifts the action potential threshold in the hyperpolarized direction. These proof-of-concept studies illustrate that the voltage-gated channel activity in both excitable and nonexcitable cells can be tuned by enzymatically modifying lipid head groups.

scholarly journals Differential impact of Kv8.2 loss on rod and cone signaling and degeneration.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shivangi M Inamdar ◽  
Colten K Lankford ◽  
Deepak Poria ◽  
Joseph G Laird ◽  
Eduardo Solessio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Light Stimulus ◽  
Resting Membrane Potential ◽  
Cone Dystrophy ◽  
Extracellular Potassium ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
Ionic Imbalance

The voltage-gated potassium channel responsible for controlling photoreceptor signaling is a heteromeric complex of Kv2.1 subunits with a regulatory Kv8.2 subunit. Kv2.1/Kv8.2 channels are localized to the photoreceptor inner segment and carry IKx, largely responsible for setting the photoreceptor resting membrane potential. Mutations in Kv8.2 result in childhood-onset Cone Dystrophy with Supernormal Rod Response (CDSRR). We generated a Kv8.2 knockout (KO) mouse and examined retinal signaling and photoreceptor degeneration to gain deeper insight into the complex phenotypes of this disease. Using electroretinograms we show that there is a tradeoff between delayed or reduced signaling from rods depending on the intensity of the light stimulus, consistent with reduced capacity for light-evoked changes in membrane potential. The delayed response was not seen ex vivo where extracellular potassium levels are the same, so we conclude the in vivo alteration is influenced by ionic imbalance. We observed mild retinal degeneration. Signaling from cones was reduced but there was no loss of cone density. Loss of Kv8.2 altered responses to flickering light with responses attenuated at high frequencies and altered in shape at low frequencies. The Kv8.2 KO line on an all-cone retina background had reduced cone signaling associated with degeneration. We conclude that Kv8.2 is required by rods and cones for responding to dynamic changes in lighting. The timing and cell type affected by degeneration is different in the mouse and human but there is a window of time in both for therapeutic intervention.

scholarly journals Network activity influences the subthreshold and spiking visual responses of pyramidal neurons in a three-layer cortex

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel C. Wright ◽  
Ralf Wessel
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Visual Responses ◽  
Cortical Function ◽  
Sensory Evoked ◽  
High Conductance

A primary goal of systems neuroscience is to understand cortical function, which typically involves studying spontaneous and sensory-evoked cortical activity. Mounting evidence suggests a strong and complex relationship between the ongoing and evoked state. To date, most work in this area has been based on spiking in populations of neurons. While advantageous in many respects, this approach is limited in scope; it records the activities of a minority of neurons, and gives no direct indication of the underlying subthreshold dynamics. Membrane potential recordings can fill these gaps in our understanding, but are difficult to obtain in vivo. Here, we record subthreshold cortical visual responses in the ex vivo turtle eye-attached whole-brain preparation, which is ideally-suited to such a study. In the absence of visual stimulation, the network is “synchronous”; neurons display network-mediated transitions between low- and high-conductance membrane potential states. The prevalence of these slow-wave transitions varies across turtles and recording sessions. Visual stimulation evokes similar high-conductance states, which are on average larger and less reliable when the ongoing state is more synchronous. Responses are muted when immediately preceded by large, spontaneous high-conductance events. Evoked spiking is sparse, highly variable across trials, and mediated by concerted synaptic inputs that are in general only very weakly correlated with inputs to nearby neurons. Together, these results highlight the multiplexed influence of the cortical network on the spontaneous and sensory-evoked activity of individual cortical neurons.

In vivo membrane potentials of smooth muscle cells in the caudal artery of the rat

1985 ◽  
Vol 249 (1) ◽  
pp. C78-C83 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J. Bryant ◽  
D. R. Harder ◽  
M. B. Pamnani ◽  
F. J. Haddy
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Muscle Cells ◽  
Membrane Potentials ◽  
Resting Membrane Potential ◽  
Humoral Factors ◽  
Caudal Artery ◽  
Blood Pressures

Membrane potentials measured in vivo may differ significantly from those measured in vitro in part due to humoral factors, innervation, and wall tension. These studies were initiated to determine whether it is feasible to record membrane potentials from vascular smooth muscle cells in vivo in the caudal artery of the pentobarbital-anesthetized male Wistar rat. Membrane potentials were measured using glass microelectrodes and correlated with systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressures. For systolic blood pressures between 100 and 140 mmHg the average resting membrane potential was -38.4 +/- 0.48 mV. There was good correlation of systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressures with membrane potential between 100 and 140 mmHg (r = 0.89, 0.75, and 0.89, respectively). Below 80 mmHg the arterial muscle cells became more depolarized than would be expected if the membrane potential were determined solely by transmural pressure. The depolarized membrane potential at low arterial pressures may be due to enhanced neural input. Spontaneous electrical activity was observed in some of the in vivo cells. When action potentials were present, they were generated at rates between 1-2/s and 6-7/min. These studies indicate that it is feasible to measure membrane potentials from arterial smooth muscle cells in vivo in the caudal artery of the rat.

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