title: Cortical GABAergic neurons are more severely impaired by alkalosis than acidosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acid-base imbalance in various metabolic disturbances leads to human brain dysfunction. Compared with acidosis, the patients suffered from alkalosis demonstrate more severe neurological signs that are difficultly corrected. We hypothesize a causative process that the nerve cells in the brain are more vulnerable to alkalosis than acidosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The vulnerability of GABAergic neurons to alkalosis versus acidosis was compared by analyzing their functional changes in response to the extracellular high pH and low pH. The neuronal and synaptic functions were recorded by whole-cell recordings in the cortical slices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The elevation or attenuation of extracellular pH impaired these GABAergic neurons in terms of their capability to produce spikes, their responsiveness to excitatory synaptic inputs and their outputs via inhibitory synapses. Importantly, the dysfunction of these active properties appeared severer in alkalosis than acidosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The severer impairment of cortical GABAergic neurons in alkalosis patients leads to more critical neural excitotoxicity, so that alkalosis-induced brain dysfunction is difficultly corrected, compared to acidosis. The vulnerability of cortical GABAergic neurons to high pH is likely a basis of severe clinical outcomes in alkalosis versus acidosis.
authors: Department of Neurology, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, 37 Yiyuan Street, Harbin 150001, P,R, China. zhangsy70@yahoo.com.
authors: Shuyan
authors: S
authors: Zhang
authors: Piyun
authors: P
authors: Sun
authors: Zhongren
authors: Z
authors: Sun
authors: Jingyu
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Jinlong
authors: J
authors: Zhou
authors: Yingli
authors: Y
authors: Gu
mesh_terms: D000138:Acidosis / Q000473:pathology*; D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D000471:Alkalosis / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D059330:GABAergic Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D053444:Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques
chemical_list: D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase