scholarly journals The Molecular Basis for the Calcium-Dependent Slow Afterhyperpolarization in CA1 Hippocampal Pyramidal Neurons

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giriraj Sahu ◽  
Ray W. Turner

Neuronal signal transmission depends on the frequency, pattern, and timing of spike output, each of which are shaped by spike afterhyperpolarizations (AHPs). There are classically three post-spike AHPs of increasing duration categorized as fast, medium and slow AHPs that hyperpolarize a cell over a range of 10 ms to 30 s. Intensive early work on CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells revealed that all three AHPs incorporate activation of calcium-gated potassium channels. The ionic basis for a fAHP was rapidly attributed to the actions of big conductance (BK) and the mAHP to small conductance (SK) or Kv7 potassium channels. In stark contrast, the ionic basis for a prominent slow AHP of up to 30 s duration remained an enigma for over 30 years. Recent advances in pharmacological, molecular, and imaging tools have uncovered the expression of a calcium-gated intermediate conductance potassium channel (IK, KCa3.1) in central neurons that proves to contribute to the slow AHP in CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells. Together the data show that the sAHP arises in part from a core tripartite complex between Cav1.3 (L-type) calcium channels, ryanodine receptors, and IK channels at endoplasmic reticulum-plasma membrane junctions. Work on the sAHP in CA1 pyramidal neurons has again quickened pace, with identified contributions by both IK channels and the Na-K pump providing answers to several mysteries in the pharmacological properties of the sAHP.

2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 846-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
George A. Prenosil ◽  
Edith M. Schneider Gasser ◽  
Uwe Rudolph ◽  
Ruth Keist ◽  
Jean-Marc Fritschy ◽  
...  

The main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian brain, GABA, mediates multiple forms of inhibitory signals, such as fast and slow inhibitory postsynaptic currents and tonic inhibition, by activating a diverse family of ionotropic GABAA receptors (GABAARs). Here, we studied whether distinct GABAAR subtypes mediate these various forms of inhibition using as approach mice carrying a point mutation in the α-subunit rendering individual GABAAR subtypes insensitive to diazepam without altering their GABA sensitivity and expression of receptors. Whole cell patch-clamp recordings were performed in hippocampal pyramidal cells from single, double, and triple mutant mice. Comparing diazepam effects in knock-in and wild-type mice allowed determining the contribution of α1, α2, α3, and α5 subunits containing GABAARs to phasic and tonic forms of inhibition. Fast phasic currents were mediated by synaptic α2-GABAARs on the soma and by synaptic α1-GABAARs on the dendrites. No contribution of α3- or α5-GABAARs was detectable. Slow phasic currents were produced by both synaptic and perisynaptic GABAARs, judged by their strong sensitivity to blockade of GABA reuptake. In the CA1 area, but not in the subiculum, perisynaptic α5-GABAARs contributed to slow phasic currents. In the CA1 area, the diazepam-sensitive component of tonic inhibition also involved activation of α5-GABAARs and slow phasic and tonic signals shared overlapping pools of receptors. These results show that the major forms of inhibitory neurotransmission in hippocampal pyramidal cells are mediated by distinct GABAARs subtypes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianying Zeng ◽  
Jenny Libien ◽  
Fatima Shaik ◽  
Jason Wolk ◽  
A. Iván Hernández

Synaptic dysfunction is thought to play a major role in memory impairment in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). PARP-1 has been identified as an epigenetic regulator of plasticity and memory. Thus, we hypothesize that PARP-1 may be altered in postmortem hippocampus of individuals with AD compared to age-matched controls without neurologic disease. We found a reduced level of PARP-1 nucleolar immunohistochemical staining in hippocampal pyramidal cells in AD. Nucleolar PARP-1 staining ranged from dispersed and less intense to entirely absent in AD compared to the distinct nucleolar localization in hippocampal pyramidal neurons in controls. In cases of AD, the percentage of hippocampal pyramidal cells with nucleoli that were positive for both PARP-1 and the nucleolar marker fibrillarin was significantly lower than in controls. PARP-1 nucleolar expression emerges as a sensitive marker of functional changes in AD and suggests a novel role for PARP-1 dysregulation in AD pathology.


2000 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 2554-2561 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Shah ◽  
D. G. Haylett

The advantages of using isolated cells have led us to develop short-term cultures of hippocampal pyramidal cells, which retain many of the properties of cells in acute preparations and in particular the ability to generate afterhyperpolarizations after a train of action potentials. Using perforated-patch recordings, both medium and slow afterhyperpolarization currents (m I AHP and s I AHP, respectively) could be obtained from pyramidal cells that were cultured for 8–15 days. The s I AHP demonstrated the kinetics and pharmacologic characteristics reported for pyramidal cells in slices. In addition to confirming the insensitivity to 100 nM apamin and 1 mM TEA, we have shown that the s I AHP is also insensitive to 100 nM charybdotoxin but is inhibited by 100 μMd-tubocurarine. Concentrations of nifedipine (10 μM) and nimodipine (3 μM) that maximally inhibit L-type calcium channels reduced the s I AHP by 30 and 50%, respectively. However, higher concentrations of nimodipine (10 μM) abolished the s I AHP, which can be partially explained by an effect on action potentials. Both nifedipine and nimodipine at maximal concentrations were found to reduce the HVA calcium current in freshly dissociated neurons to the same extent. The N-type calcium channel inhibitor, ω-conotoxin GVIA (100 nM), irreversibly inhibited the s I AHP by 37%. Together, ω-conotoxin (100 nM) and nifedipine (10 μM) inhibited the s I AHP by 70%. 10 μM ryanodine also reduced the s I AHP by 30%, suggesting a role for calcium-induced calcium release. It is concluded that activation of the s I AHP in cultured hippocampal pyramidal cells is mediated by a rise in intracellular calcium involving multiple pathways and not just entry via L-type calcium channels.


1989 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 971-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Coulter ◽  
J. J. Lo Turco ◽  
M. Kubota ◽  
J. F. Disterhoft ◽  
J. W. Moore ◽  
...  

1. The afterhyperpolarization (AHP) that follows action potentials was studied in CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells from classically conditioned and control rabbits. Measurements of the AHP were obtained with intracellular recordings from CA1 cells within hippocampal slices. 2. The AHP of rabbit CA1 pyramidal cells was found to be accompanied by a conductance increase. The AHP was reduced by bath applications of the calcium channel blockers, cadmium and cobalt, by bath application of the cholinergic agonist, carbamylcholine chloride, and intracellular injection of the calcium chelator, ethylene glycol-bis(B-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA). 3. The AHP was markedly reduced in cells from rabbits that were well-trained with the nictitating membrane conditioning procedure, as compared with cells from pseudoconditioned or naive control animals. The difference in AHP amplitudes between conditioned and control groups increased as the number of spikes elicited by the stimulation pulse increased from one to four. Both the duration (measured as the time constant of AHP decay) and amplitude of the AHP were reduced in cells from conditioned animals. 4. The reduced AHP in cells from conditioned animals remained reduced in a medium that contained 0.5 microM tetrodotoxin (TTX) and 5.0 mM tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA); the AHP following calcium spikes was measured under these conditions. Since this medium eliminated synaptic transmission elicited by Schaeffer collateral stimulation, the AHP reduction in pyramidal cells from conditioned animals was not due to a modification in synaptic properties. There were no significant differences in the mean voltage thresholds, amplitudes, or durations of calcium spikes between cells from animals in the three groups. Thus the AHP reduction appears to be due to a modification of a Ca2+ -dependent K+ conductance and was not due to a secondary effect of reductions in calcium conductances underlying the spike. 5. In medium containing TTX and TEA, the amount of injected current required to elicit a calcium spike (current threshold) was significantly greater in cells from conditioned animals than in cells from control animals. This increase in current threshold persisted in 4-aminopyridine (4-AP)-containing medium and so cannot be attributed entirely to conditioning-specific increases in the A-current. 6. The conditioning-specific AHP reduction resulted in increased excitability in cells from conditioned animals versus pseudoconditioned control animals. Cells from conditioned animals fired more spikes to trains of 100-ms depolarizing current pulses than did cells from controls.


Neuroreport ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 639-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Meberg ◽  
Albrecht H. Kossel ◽  
Cheri V. Williams ◽  
Stanley B. Kater

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