title: NMDA receptor-mediated currents in rat cerebellar granule and unipolar brush cells.
abstract: The properties of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated currents at the giant cerebellar mossy-fiber unipolar brush cell (UBC) synapse were compared with those of adjacent granule cells using patch-clamp recording methods in thin slices of rat cerebellar nodulus. In UBCs, NMDA receptor-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) decayed as a single exponential whose time constant was independent of membrane potential. The EPSC was reduced in all cells by the NR1/NR2B-selective antagonist ifenprodil, and the Zn(2+) chelator N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine (TPEN) produced a transient potentiation in 50% of cells. In contrast, the NMDA EPSC in granule cells decayed as a double exponential that dramatically switched to a slower rate at positive membrane potentials. The synaptic response in some granule cells also displayed a late second peak at positive potentials, and in others, activation of mossy fibers produced repetitive trains of EPSCs indicating they may be postsynaptic to the UBC network. Single-channel recordings of outside-out somatic patches from UBCs in magnesium-free solution revealed only high-conductance (50 pS) channels whose open time was increased with depolarization, but the opening frequency was decreased to yield a low (p(o) = 0.0298), voltage-independent opening probability. Lowering extracellular calcium (2.5-0.25 mM) had no effects on channel gating, although an increase of single-channel conductance was observed at lower calcium concentrations. Taken together, the data support the notion that the NMDA receptor in UBCs may comprise both NR1/NR2A and NR1/NR2B receptors. Furthermore, the properties of the EPSC in these two classes of feedforward glutamatergic interneurons display fundamental differences that may relate to their roles in synaptic integration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Institute for Neuroscience, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA. d.bilups@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Billups
authors.forename: Ying-Bing
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Birnstiel
authors.forename: N Traverse
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Slater
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000494:pharmacology; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D005260:Female; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D002118:Calcium