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.
Holmes
K H
KH
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555-1031, USA.
Keele
N B
NB
Shinnick-Gallagher
P
P
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