Loss of mGluR-mediated hyperpolarizations and increase in mGluR depolarizations in basolateral amygdala neurons in kindling-induced epilepsy.
1. Intracellular recordings were made from neurons of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) in in vitro slice preparations to determine long-term differences in metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) agonist-induced membrane responses in control and amygdala-kindled rats. 2. (2S,3S,4S)-alpha-(carboxycyclopropyl)glycine-1 (L-CCG-I; 100 microM) typically evoked a hyperpolarization/outward current in control BLA neurons; the hyperpolarization is mediated through a group-II-like mGluR subtype of receptor and is recorded in accommodating neurons that cease firing in the presence of a long (400 ms) depolarizing current injection (0.5 nA). In amygdala-kindled slices, L-CCG-I (100 microM) hyperpolarized only 1 of 13 BLA neurons. 3. 1S,3R-1-aminocyclopentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (1S,3R-ACPD) (100 microM) elicited a hyperpolarization/depolarization (outward/inward current) in control neurons and evoked only a membrane depolarization (inward current) in kindled BLA neurons; this depolarization is similar to that mediated by group I mGluR activation in other neurons. 4. In control nonaccommodating neurons the concentration-response relationship for the 1S,3R-ACPD-induced inward current had a median effective concentration (EC50) of 49 microM and a maximum amplitude of 182 +/- 30 (mean +/- SE) pA. In kindled nonaccommodating neurons the EC50 of the concentration-response relationship for 1S,3R-ACPD was shifted to 29 microM and the maximum value increased to 265 +/- 15 pA, reflecting an increase in efficacy. 5. These data suggest that amygdala kindling causes lasting changes in mGluR responses in the BLA reflecting a downregulation of a group-II-like mGluR subtype mediating the hyperpolarizing response and an upregulation of a group I mGluR1 or 5 subtype. The hyperpolarizing response reduced by kindling and the increase in the group I mGluR response may reflect an alteration in the balance between inhibition and excitation and may contribute to the transition to epileptiform bursting in kindled neurons.
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555-1031, USA.
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Holmes
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Keele
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Shinnick-Gallagher
D000679:Amygdala / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D003515:Cycloleucine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007696:Kindling, Neurologic; D008297:Male; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D018094:Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate / Q000819:agonists / Q000502:physiology*
D015221:Potassium Channels; D018094:Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate; D003515:Cycloleucine; C036361:1-amino-1,3-dicarboxycyclopentane