Two classes of spontaneous GABA-mediated miniature synaptic currents in cultured rat hippocampal neurons. |
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| Authors: | J Vautrin A E Schaffner J L Baker |
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| Affiliation: | Laboratory of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892. |
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| Abstract: | Amplitude and time course of spontaneous gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-mediated miniature postsynaptic currents (MPSCs), recorded in cultured embryonic hippocampal neurons in presence of either tetrodotoxin (TTX) or increased external [Mg2+/Ca2+] ratio, revealed that they form two classes. The distribution of the most commonly recorded MPSCs was skewed both in terms of peak amplitude and rise-time (skew-MPSCs, mode: 70-120 pS). Another, less frequent class (mode: 1-3 nS) formed bell-shaped (bell-MPSCs) amplitude and rise-time distributions. MPSC initial slope did not correlate with rise time, indicating that smaller MPSCs were not electrotonically attenuated. Bell-MPSCs did not result from the integration of skew-MPSCs and both classes appeared to be composed of subunits. |
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