Acute injury to superficial cortex leads to a decrease in synaptic inhibition and increase in excitation in neocortical layer V pyramidal cells

Injury to the superficial layers of cerebral cortex produces alterations in the synaptic responses of local circuits that promote the development of seizures. To further delineate the specific changes in synaptic strength that are induced by this type of cortical injury, whole cell voltage-clamp recordings were used to examine evoked and spontaneous synaptic events from layer V pyramidal cells in coronal slices prepared from surgically traumatized rat neocortices in which the superficial third of the cortex (layers I, II, and part of III) was removed. Slices from intact neocortices were used as controls. Examinations of fast inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) indicated that traumatized slices were disinhibited, exhibiting evoked IPSCs (eIPSCs) with lower peak amplitudes. Measurements of spontaneous IPSCs (sIPSCs) revealed no difference in the mean amplitudes of sIPSCs recorded in traumatized versus control slices. However, the mean sIPSC frequency was lower in traumatized slices, indicative of a decrease in GABA release at these inhibitory synapses. Traumatized slices also displayed an increase in synaptic excitation, exhibiting spontaneous EPSCs (sESPCs) with larger peak amplitudes and higher frequencies. Peak-scaled nonstationary fluctuation analysis of sEPSCs and sIPSCs was used to obtain estimates of the unit conductance and number of functional receptor channels. EPSC and IPSC channel numbers and IPSC unit conductance did not differ between traumatized and intact slices. However, the mean unit conductance of EPSCs was higher (+25%) in traumatized slices. These findings suggest that acute injury to the superficial neocortical layers results in a disinhibition of cortical circuits that stems from a decline in GABA release likely due to the loss of superficial inhibitory interneurons and an enhancement of synaptic excitation consequent to an increase in the AMPA receptor unit conductance.