title: Electrophysiological properties of cultured hippocampal neurons from Wistar Audiogenic Rats.
abstract: The main goal of this work was to analyze the electrophysiological properties of cultured hippocampal neurons from a particular epileptic rat strain, called Wistar Audiogenic Rats (WAR). The whole-cell patch-clamp technique was used to record both active and passive membrane responses in an attempt to detect alterations in their characteristics in relation to controls from Wistar rats. Neurons from WARs show a significant reduction in the magnitude of the inhibitory GABAergic currents ( approximately 45%), in spite of maintaining a normal level of the excitatory glutamatergic currents. In addition, the magnitude of potassium currents, measured at +80 mV, is reduced by about 30% in comparison to controls. Surprisingly, we also found important changes in the passive cellular properties in WAR neurons such as membrane potential (-50.0 mV in WARs and -63.1 mV in controls) and input resistance (647 MOmega in WARs and 408 MOmega in controls). The changes described here, could be the basis of the neurophysiological and behavioral alterations present in these hyperexcitable animals, contributing to a better understanding of epileptogenesis in this particular animal model.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, UFMT, Av. Fernando Correa da Costa, s/n 78060-900 Cuiabá, MT, Brazil. fermes@ibest.com.br
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mesquita
authors.forename: José F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Aguiar
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Norberto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Garcia-Cairasco
authors.forename: Wamberto A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Varanda
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D017097:Electric Impedance; D020195:Epilepsy, Reflex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D018079:Receptors, GABA / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D015221:Potassium Channels; D018079:Receptors, GABA; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid