title: Late postnatal development of intrinsic and synaptic properties promotes fast and precise signaling in the dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus.
abstract: The dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (DNLL) is an auditory brain stem structure that generates a long-lasting GABAergic output, which is important for binaural processing. Despite its importance in binaural processing, little is known about the cellular physiology and the synaptic input kinetics of DNLL neurons. To assess the relevant physiological parameters of DNLL neurons, their late postnatal developmental profile was analyzed in acute brain slices of 9- to 26-day-old Mongolian gerbils. The observed developmental changes in passive membrane and action potential (AP) properties all point toward an improvement of fast and precise signal integration in these neurons. Accordingly, synaptic glutamatergic and GABAergic current kinetics accelerate with age. The changes in intrinsic and synaptic properties contribute nearly equally to reduce the latency and jitter in AP generation and thus enhance the temporal precision of DNLL neurons. Furthermore, the size of the synaptic NMDA current is developmentally downregulated. Despite this developmental reduction, DNLL neurons display an NMDA-dependent postsynaptic amplification of AP generation, known to support high firing rates, throughout this developmental period. Taken together, our findings indicate that during late postnatal development DNLL neurons are optimized for high firing rates with high temporal precision.
authors: Division of Neurobiology, Department of Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Martinsried, Germany.
authors: J J
authors: JJ
authors: Ammer
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Grothe
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Felmy
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001306:Auditory Pathways; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D018683:Excitatory Amino Acid Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D018682:GABA Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000502:physiology*; D005849:Gerbillinae; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D053444:Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018683:Excitatory Amino Acid Agents; D018682:GABA Agents; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins