Momose-Sato Y, Sato K, Mochida H, Yazawa I, Sasaki S, Kamino K
Department of Physiology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University Graduate School and facility of Medicine, Bunkyo-ku, 113-8519, Tokyo, Japan.
Neuroscience. 2001;102(2):245-62. doi: 10.1016/s0306-4522(00)00477-2.
Throughout experiments on multiple-site voltage-sensitive dye recordings of neural activity in embryonic chick brain preparations, we have found a novel type of depolarization waves which spread widely from the brainstem to the whole brain region at a rapid rate (mm/s). This depolarization wave was triggered by glutamate-mediated postsynaptic potentials and was especially correlated to N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor function. Evidence that the spreading depolarization wave is eliminated by octanol or 18beta-glycyrrhetinic acid suggests that the depolarization wave depends on functions of gap junctions. The profile obtained with Ca(2+)-imaging experiments also suggests that the propagation of the depolarization wave is accompanied by a calcium wave. These results provide new evidence for intercellular functional communication between neural cells in the vertebrate central nervous system during embryonic development.
