title: Episodic bursting activity and response to excitatory amino acids in acutely dissociated gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons genetically targeted with green fluorescent protein.
abstract: The gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) system, considered to be the final common pathway for the control of reproduction, has been difficult to study because of a lack of distinguishing characteristics and the scattered distribution of neurons. The development of a transgenic mouse in which the GnRH promoter drives expression of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) has provided the opportunity to perform electrophysiological studies of GnRH neurons. In this study, neurons were dissociated from brain slices prepared from prepubertal female GnRH-EGFP mice. Both current- and voltage-clamp recordings were obtained from acutely dissociated GnRH neurons identified on the basis of EGFP expression. Most isolated GnRH-EGFP neurons fired spontaneous action potentials (recorded in cell-attached or whole-cell mode) that typically consisted of brief bursts (2-20 Hz) separated by 1-10 sec. At more negative resting potentials, GnRH-EGFP neurons exhibited oscillations in membrane potential, which could lead to bursting episodes lasting from seconds to minutes. These bursting episodes were often separated by minutes of inactivity. Rapid application of glutamate or NMDA increased firing activity in all neurons and usually generated small inward currents (<15 pA), although larger currents were evoked in the remaining neurons. Both AMPA and NMDA receptors mediated the glutamate-evoked inward currents. These results suggest that isolated GnRH-EGFP neurons from juvenile mice can generate episodes of repetitive burst discharges that may underlie the pulsatile secretion of GnRH, and glutamatergic inputs may contribute to the activation of endogenous bursts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1670, USA. cathy.kovarik@colostate.edu
authors.forename: M Cathleen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kuehl-Kovarik
authors.forename: Wendy A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Pouliot
authors.forename: Gloriana L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Halterman
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Handa
authors.forename: F Edward
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Dudek
authors.forename: Kathryn M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Partin
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002469:Cell Separation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018846:Excitatory Amino Acids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D016202:N-Methylaspartate / Q000494:pharmacology; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018846:Excitatory Amino Acids; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D016202:N-Methylaspartate