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Serotonin drives a novel GABAergic synaptic current recorded in rat cerebellar purkinje cells: a lugaro cell to purkinje cell synapse

Dean, I.; Robertson, S.J.; Edwards, F.A.; (2003) Serotonin drives a novel GABAergic synaptic current recorded in rat cerebellar purkinje cells: a lugaro cell to purkinje cell synapse. The Journal of Neuroscience , 23 (11) pp. 4457-4469. Green open access

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Abstract

We recorded a novel fast GABAergic synaptic current in cerebellar Purkinje cells in rat brain slices using patch-clamp techniques. Because of a relatively low sensitivity to bicuculline, these currents can be recorded under conditions in which basket and stellate cell inputs are blocked. The observations that the novel synaptic currents occur spontaneously only in the presence of serotonin, and the specific limited positions in the slice from which they can be electrically evoked, suggest that the presynaptic cell is the Lugaro cell. Cell-attached recordings confirm that the Lugaro cell is the only interneuron in the cerebellar cortex with firing behavior consistent with the spontaneous activity recorded in Purkinje cells. The input shows a strong presynaptic modulation mediated by GABAA receptors, resulting in a dynamic range from almost 0 to >90% release probability. Modeling GABAA receptor responses to different GABA transients suggests that the relatively low sensitivity of the synaptic currents to bicuculline, compared with the higher affinity GABAA receptor antagonist SR-95531 (2-(3-carboxypropyl)-3-amino-6-(4-methoxyphenyl) pyridazinium), is attributable to an unusually long GABA dwell time and/or high GABA concentration in the synaptic cleft. The significance of this novel input is discussed in relation to other GABAergic synapses impinging on Purkinje cells. We suggest that the release of GABA onto Purkinje cells from Lugaro cells would primarily occur during motor activity under conditions in which the activity of basket and stellate cells might be inhibited.

Type: Article
Title: Serotonin drives a novel GABAergic synaptic current recorded in rat cerebellar purkinje cells: a lugaro cell to purkinje cell synapse
Identifier: PMID: 12805286
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Publisher version: http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/23/1...
Language: English
Additional information: Published by the Society of Neuroscience This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. The license allows you to copy, distribute, and transmit the work, as well as adapting it. However, you must attribute the work to the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), and cannot use the work for commercial purposes without prior permission of the author. If you alter or build upon this work, you can distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
Keywords: Purkinje cell, lugaro cell, cerebellar cortex, IPSC, serotonin, GABAA receptor, kinetic model
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > The Ear Institute
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/8327
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