GABA Application to Hippocampal CA3 or CA1 Stratum Lacunosum-Moleculare Excites an Interneuron Network

2002 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 1404-1414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine L. Perkins

Whole cell voltage-clamp recording and focal application of the neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were used to investigate the ability of exogenous GABA applied to different locations within the guinea pig hippocampal slice to trigger a giant GABA-mediated postsynaptic current (GPSC) in pyramidal cells. A GPSC reflects the synchronous release of GABA from a group of interneurons. Recordings were done in the presence of 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) and blockers of ionotropic glutamatergic synaptic transmission. Spontaneous GPSCs occurred rhythmically in pyramidal cells under these conditions. Brief focal pressure application of GABA (500 μM; 30–200 ms) to CA3 stratum lacunosum-moleculare (SLM) or to the border between CA3 s. radiatum (SR) and SLM triggered an “all-or-none” GPSC in CA3 and CA1 pyramidal cells that looked like the spontaneous GPSCs. During the refractory period following a spontaneous GPSC, application of GABA could not trigger a GPSC. Both spontaneous GPSCs and GPSCs triggered by exogenous GABA were blocked by suppressing synaptic transmission with high Mg2+/low Ca2+bath solution. On the other hand, focal application of GABA to CA3 s. oriens (SO) or to proximal SR did not trigger a GPSC in the CA3 pyramidal cell; instead it produced a graded response. Focal application of GABA to regions other than CA3 was also tested. Focal application of GABA to CA1 SLM always triggered a GPSC in the CA3 pyramidal cell. Focal application of GABA within the outer two-thirds of the dentate molecular layer often elicited a GPSC in the CA3 pyramidal cell. In contrast, focal application of GABA to CA1 SO, to CA1 SR, or to the hilus elicited no current response in the CA3 pyramidal cell. These data indicate that the GPSC recorded in pyramidal cells that was triggered by focal GABA application resulted from the synchronous synaptic release of GABA from activated interneurons rather than from the binding of exogenous GABA to receptors on the pyramidal cell. Furthermore, the “all-or-none” nature of the response to SLM GABA applications of different durations indicates that the exogenous GABA was exciting (directly or indirectly) some members of a network of interneurons, which in turn recruited the rest of the network, rather than individually activating each interneuron that contributed to the GPSC. Interestingly, the effective sites of GABA application—CA3 SLM, CA1 SLM, and the outer two-thirds of the dentate molecular layer—are also the sites which receive direct innervation from the entorhinal cortex in an intact animal.

2002 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 1395-1403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayako M. Watabe ◽  
Holly J. Carlisle ◽  
Thomas J. O'Dell

Activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) with the group I mGluR selective agonist (R,S)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) induces a long-term depression (LTD) of excitatory synaptic transmission in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. Here we investigated the potential roles of pre- and postsynaptic processes in the DHPG-induced LTD at excitatory synapses onto hippocampal pyramidal cells in the mouse hippocampus. Activation of mGluRs with DHPG, but not ACPD, induced LTD at both Schaffer collateral/commissural fiber synapses onto CA1 pyramidal cells and at associational/commissural fiber synapses onto CA3 pyramidal cells. DHPG-induced LTD was blocked when the G-protein inhibitor guanosine-5′- O-(2-thiodiphosphate) was selectively delivered into postsynaptic CA1 pyramidal cells via an intracellular recording electrode, suggesting that DHPG depresses synaptic transmission through a postsynaptic, GTP-dependent signaling pathway. The effects of DHPG were also strongly modulated, however, by experimental manipulations that altered presynaptic calcium influx. In these experiments, we found that elevating extracellular Ca2+ concentrations ([Ca2+]o) to 6 mM almost completely blocked the effects of DHPG, whereas lowering [Ca2+]o to 1 mM significantly enhanced the ability of DHPG to depress synaptic transmission. Enhancing Ca2+ influx by prolonging action potential duration with bath applications of the K+ channel blocker 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) also strongly reduced the effects of DHPG in the presence of normal [Ca2+]o (2 mM). Although these findings indicate that alterations in Ca2+-dependent signaling processes strongly regulate the effects of DHPG on synaptic transmission, they do not distinguish between potential pre- versus postsynaptic sites of action. We found, however, that while inhibiting both pre- and postsynaptic K+ channels with bath-applied 4-AP blocked the effects of DHPG; inhibition of postsynaptic K+channels alone with intracellular Cs+ and TEA had no effect on the ability of DHPG to inhibit synaptic transmission. This suggests that presynaptic changes in transmitter release contribute to the depression of synaptic transmission by DHPG. Consistent with this, DHPG induced a persistent depression of both AMPA and N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-mediated components of excitatory postsynaptic currents in voltage-clamped pyramidal cells. Together our results suggest that activation of postsynaptic mGluRs suppresses transmission at excitatory synapses onto CA1 pyramidal cells through presynaptic effects on transmitter release.


1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 1124-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang X. Chen ◽  
Katherine L. Perkins ◽  
Robert K. S. Wong

Chen, Qiang X., Katherine L. Perkins, and Robert K. S. Wong. Zn2+ blocks the NMDA- and Ca2+-triggered postexposure current I pe in hippocampal pyramidal cells. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 1124–1126, 1998. Whole cell voltage-clamp recordings from acutely isolated hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells from adult guinea pigs were used to evaluate divalent cations as possible blockers of the postexposure current ( I pe). I pe is a cation current that is triggered by the rise in intracellular Ca2+ concentration that occurs after the application of a toxic level of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA). Once triggered, I pe continues to grow until death of the neuron occurs. I pe may be a critical link between transient NMDA exposure and cell death. I pe was blocked by micromolar concentrations of Zn2+. The Zn2+ effect had an IC50 of 64 μM and saturated at 500 μM. Prolonged Zn2+ block of I pe revealed that the maintenance of a steady I pe is not dependent on I pe-mediated Ca2+ influx but that the continuous growth in I pe is dependent on I pe-mediated Ca2+ influx. The availability of an effective blocker of I pe should facilitate the investigation of the intracellular activation pathway of I pe and the role of I pe in neuronal death.


1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (6) ◽  
pp. 3214-3232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil J. Berman ◽  
Leonard Maler

Berman, Neil J. and Leonard Maler. Distal versus proximal inhibitory shaping of feedback excitation in the electrosensory lateral line lobe: implications for sensory filtering. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 3214–3232, 1998. The inhibition controlling the indirect descending feedback (parallel fibers originating from cerebellar granule cells in the eminentia posterior pars granularis) to electrosensory lateral line lobe (ELL) pyramidal cells was studied using intracellular recording techniques in vitro. Parallel fibers (PF) contact stellate cells and dendrites of ventral molecular layer (VML) GABAergic interneurons. Stellate cells provide local input to pyramidal cell distal dendrites, whereas VML cells contact their somata and proximal dendrites. Single-pulse stimulation of PF evoked graded excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) that were blocked by α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid and N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists. The EPSPs peaked at 6.4 ± 1.8 ms (mean ± SE; n = 11) but took >50 ms to decay completely. Tetanic stimulation (100 ms, 100 Hz) produced a depolarizing wave with individual EPSPs superimposed. The absolute amplitude of the individual EPSPs decreased during the train. Spike rates, established by injected current, mostly were increased, but in some cells were decreased, by tetanic stimulation. Global application of a γ-aminobutyric acid-A (GABAA) antagonist to the recorded cell's soma and apical dendritic region increased the EPSP peak and decay phase amplitudes. Tetanic stimulation always increased current-evoked spike rates after GABAA blockade during, and for several hundred milliseconds after, the stimulus. Application of a GABAB antagonist did not have any significant effects on the PF-evoked response. This, and the lack of any long hyperpolarizing inhibitory postsynaptic potentials, suggests that VML and stellate cell inhibition does not involve GABAB receptors. Focal GABAA antagonist applications to the dorsal molecular layer (DML) and pyramidal cell layer (PCL) had contrasting effects on PF-evoked EPSPs. DML GABAA blockade significantly increased the EPSP peak amplitude but not the decay phase of the EPSP, whereas PCL GABAA-blockade significantly increased the decay phase, but not the EPSP peak, amplitude. The order of antagonist application did not affect the outcome. On the basis of the known circuitry of the ELL, we conclude that the distal inhibition originated from GABAergic molecular layer stellate cells and the proximal inhibition originated from GABAergic cells of the ventral molecular layer (VML cells). Computer modeling of distal and proximal inhibition suggests that intrinsic differences in IPSP dynamics between the distal and proximal sites may be amplified by voltage-dependent NMDA receptor and persistent sodium currents. We propose that the different time courses of stellate cell and VML cell inhibition allows them to act as low- and high-pass filters respectively on indirect descending feedback to ELL pyramidal cells.


2010 ◽  
Vol 476 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodion V. Kondratenko ◽  
Vladimir I. Derevyagin ◽  
Vladimir G. Skrebitsky

1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels Tønder ◽  
Flemming F. Johansen ◽  
Jens Zimmer ◽  
Nils H. Diemer

Acute lesions of hippocampal pathways have been shown previously to ameliorate CA1 pyramidal cell loss after subsequent transient cerebral ischemia. In this study, we examined the effect of chronic neonatal lesion with reorganization of hippocampal circuitry on adult postischemic neuron loss in the hippocampus. Newborn rats were subjected to unilateral knife-cut lesions at various positions along the trisynaptic entorhino-dentatohippocampal pathway. Seven months later, the rats were subjected to transient cerebral ischemia using the four-vessel occlusion technique. At the time of killing 4 days later, a Nissl stain was used to demonstrate neuronal degeneration, while connective reorganization resulting from the neonatal lesions was monitored by Timm staining. In one group of rats, neonatal lesions had caused severe depletion of entorhinal projections to the septodorsal fascia dentata and hippocampus (CA1 and CA3), without any direct damage to the dorsal hippocampus itself. Another group had extensive damage of the dorsal CA3, with removal of the Schaffer collaterals from these levels to CA1, and variable damage to the entorhinal afferents. In both groups, the extent and pattern of ischemia-induced degeneration of CA1 pyramidal cells were the same on the lesioned and nonlesioned sides of the brain, demonstrating that neonatal lesions and the subsequent connective reorganization did not have a sparing effect. Seen in relationship to previous observations in adult rats of the neuroprotective actions of acute, preischemic lesions of the trisynaptic hippocampal pathway, it is concluded that CA1 pyramidal cell loss requires the presence of intact excitatory afferents rather than an intact hippocampal circuitry.


2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (4) ◽  
pp. 1933-1945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiyofumi Yamamoto ◽  
Yuko Koyanagi ◽  
Noriaki Koshikawa ◽  
Masayuki Kobayashi

The cerebral cortex consists of multiple neuron subtypes whose electrophysiological properties exhibit diverse modulation patterns in response to neurotransmitters, including noradrenaline and acetylcholine (ACh). We performed multiple whole cell patch-clamp recording from layer V GABAergic interneurons and pyramidal cells of rat insular cortex (IC) to examine whether cholinergic effects on unitary inhibitory postsynaptic currents (uIPSCs) are differentially regulated by ACh receptors, depending on their presynaptic and postsynaptic cell subtypes. In fast-spiking (FS) to pyramidal cell synapses, carbachol (10 μM) invariably decreased uIPSC amplitude by 51.0%, accompanied by increases in paired-pulse ratio (PPR) of the second to first uIPSC amplitude, coefficient of variation (CV) of the first uIPSC amplitude, and failure rate. Carbachol-induced uIPSC suppression was dose dependent and blocked by atropine, a muscarinic ACh receptor antagonist. Similar cholinergic suppression was observed in non-FS to pyramidal cell synapses. In contrast, FS to FS/non-FS cell synapses showed heterogeneous effects on uIPSC amplitude by carbachol. In roughly 40% of pairs, carbachol suppressed uIPSCs by 35.8%, whereas in a similar percentage of pairs uIPSCs were increased by 34.8%. Non-FS to FS/non-FS cell synapses also showed carbachol-induced uIPSC facilitation by 29.2% in about half of the pairs, whereas nearly 40% of pairs showed carbachol-induced suppression of uIPSCs by 40.3%. Carbachol tended to increase uIPSC amplitude in interneuron-to-interneuron synapses with higher PPR, suggesting that carbachol facilitates GABA release in interneuron synapses with lower release probability. These results suggest that carbachol-induced effects on uIPSCs are not homogeneous but preiotropic: i.e., cholinergic modulation of GABAergic synaptic transmission is differentially regulated depending on postsynaptic neuron subtypes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Júlia Metz ◽  
T. Szilágyi ◽  
M. Perian ◽  
K. Orbán-Kis

Abstract Objective. In silico experiments use mathematical models that capture as much as possible from the properties of the biological system under investigation. Our aim was to test the publicly available CA1 pyramidal cell models using the same simulation tasks, to compare them, and provide a systematic overview of their properties in order to improve the usefulness of these models as a tool for in silico experiments. Methods. Parameters describing the morphology of the cells and the implemented biophysical mechanisms were collected from the Model DB database of Sense Lab Project. This data was analyzed in correlation with the purpose for which each particular model was developed. Multicompartmental simulations were run using the Neuron modeling platform. The properties of the action potentials generated in response to current injection, the firing pattern and the dendritic back-propagation were analyzed. Results. The studied models were optimized to explore different physiological and pathological properties of the CA1 pyramidal cells. We could identify four broad classes of models focusing on: (i) initiation of the action potential, firing pattern and spike timing, (ii) dendritic backpropagation, (iii) dendritic integration of synaptic inputs and (iv) neuronal network activity. Despite the large variation of the active conductances implemented in the models, the properties of the individual action potentials were quite similar, but even the most complex models could not reproduce all studied biological phenomena. Conclusions. At the moment the “perfect” pyramidal cell model is not yet available. Our work, hopefully, will help finding the best model for each scientific question under investigation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Hung Lin ◽  
Johannes Kornhuber ◽  
Fang Zheng ◽  
Christian Alzheimer

The acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) converts sphingomyelin into ceramide. Recent work has advanced the ASM/ceramide system as a major player in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD). Indeed, ASM activity is enhanced in MDD patients and antidepressant drugs like fluoxetine act as functional inhibitors of ASM. Here, we employed the specific ASM inhibitor ARC39 to explore the acute effects of the enzyme on hippocampal synaptic transmission and cell excitability in adult mouse brain slice preparations. In both field potential and whole-cell recordings, ARC39 (1–3 μM) enhanced excitatory synaptic input onto ventral hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells. The specificity of drug action was demonstrated by its lacking effect in slices from ASM knockout mice. In control condition, ARC39 strongly reduced firing in most CA1 pyramidal cells, together with membrane hyperpolarization. Such pronounced inhibitory action of ARC39 on soma excitability was largely reversed when GABAA receptors were blocked. The idea that ARC39 recruits GABAergic inhibition to dampen cell excitability was further reinforced by the drug’s ability to enhance the inhibitory synaptic drive onto pyramidal cells. In pyramidal cells that were pharmacologically isolated from synaptic input, the overall effect of ARC39 on cell firing was inhibitory, but some neurons displayed a biphasic response with a transient increase in firing, suggesting that ARC39 might alter intrinsic firing properties in a cell-specific fashion. Because ARC39 is charged at physiological pH and exerted all its effects within minutes of application, we propose that the neurophysiological actions reported here are due to the inhibition of secretory rather than lysosomal ASM. In summary, the ASM inhibitor ARC39 reveals a tonic control of the enzyme over ventral hippocampal excitability, which involves the intrinsic excitability of CA1 pyramidal cells as well as their excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs.


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