Synaptic excitation may activate a calcium-dependent potassium conductance in hippocampal pyramidal cells

Science ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 212 (4497) ◽  
pp. 957-959 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Nicoll ◽  
B. Alger
Keyword(s):  
Potassium Conductance ◽  
Pyramidal Cells ◽  
Calcium Dependent ◽  
Synaptic Excitation ◽  
Hippocampal Pyramidal Cells

Hippocampal pyramidal cells: significance of dendritic ionic conductances for neuronal function and epileptogenesis

1979 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 476-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Traub ◽  
R. Llinas
Keyword(s):  
Hot Spots ◽  
Potassium Conductance ◽  
Pyramidal Cells ◽  
Calcium Currents ◽  
Membrane Properties ◽  
Repetitive Firing ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Neuronal Responses ◽  
Voltage Dependent ◽  
Hippocampal Pyramidal Cells

1. Starting with published data derived mainly from hippocampal slice preparations, we have used computer-modeling techniques to study hippocampal pyramidal cells (HPCs). 2. The dendrites of the HPC apparently have a short electrotonic length. Calcium spikes are apparently generated by a voltage-dependent mechanism whose kinetics are slow in comparison with those generating sodium spikes of the soma. Inward calcium currents are assumed to trigger a long-lasting potassium conductance. This slow calcium-potassium system, which in our model is located predominantly on the dendrites, provides a heuristic model to describe the mechanism for a) the after-depolarization following an HPC soma (sodium) spike, b) the long afterhyperpolarization following repetitive firing, c) bursts of spikes that sometimes occur after orthodromic or antidromic stimulation, and d) the buildup of the "depolarizing shift" during the strong synaptic input presumed to occur during seizures. 3. Fast prepotentials or d-spikes are shown to arise most probably from dendritic "hot spots" of sodium-regenerative membrane. The limited amplitude and short duration of these prepotentials imply that the hot spots are located on small dendrites. 4. Dendritic electroresponsiveness, first postulated for the HPC by Spencer and Kandel (52), is analyzed quantitatively here and is shown to provide rich integrative possibilities for this cell. Our model suggests that, for these nerve cells, alterations in specific membrane properties, particularly calcium electroresponsiveness, can lead to bursting behavior that resembles epileptogenic neuronal responses.

Classical conditioning reduces amplitude and duration of calcium-dependent afterhyperpolarization in rabbit hippocampal pyramidal cells

1989 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 971-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Coulter ◽  
J. J. Lo Turco ◽  
M. Kubota ◽  
J. F. Disterhoft ◽  
J. W. Moore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hippocampal Slices ◽  
Pyramidal Cells ◽  
Channel Blockers ◽  
Calcium Spikes ◽  
Calcium Dependent ◽  
Current Threshold ◽  
The Difference ◽  
And Control ◽  
Hippocampal Pyramidal Cells ◽  
In Cells

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.

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
Keyword(s):  
Potassium Channels ◽  
Pyramidal Neurons ◽  
Signal Transmission ◽  
Ryanodine Receptors ◽  
Pyramidal Cells ◽  
Frequency Pattern ◽  
Hippocampal Pyramidal Neurons ◽  
Calcium Dependent ◽  
Ionic Basis ◽  
Hippocampal Pyramidal Cells

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.

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