Intracellular recordings from serotonergic dorsal raphe neurons: pacemaker potentials and the effect of LSD.
Intracellular recordings in vivo from serotonergic dorsal raphe neurons of the rat brain reveal that these cells undergo a pronounced postspike hyperpolarization followed by a gradual interspike depolarization leading to the succeeding spike. Such repetitive cycles of interspike hyperpolarization and depolarization, which can be termed "pacemaker potentials', can account for the automaticity of these cells. When serotonergic neuronal firing is inhibited by LSD, such pacemaker potentials no longer occur and the cells remain in an hyperpolarized state.
D000818:Animals; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000187:drug effects*; D004573:Electrolytes / Q000378:metabolism; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000187:drug effects; D008238:Lysergic Acid Diethylamide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000187:drug effects; D009115:Muridae; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000187:drug effects; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects; D011903:Raphe Nuclei / Q000187:drug effects*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*
D004573:Electrolytes; D007473:Ion Channels; D012701:Serotonin; D008238:Lysergic Acid Diethylamide