Wilson J M, Cowan A I, Brownstone R M
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
J Neurophysiol. 2007 Oct;98(4):2370-81. doi: 10.1152/jn.00338.2007. Epub 2007 Aug 22.
The neurons and mechanisms involved in mammalian spinal cord networks that produce rhythmic locomotor activity remain largely undefined. Hb9 interneurons, a small population of discretely localized interneurons in the mouse spinal cord, are conditionally bursting neurons. Here we applied potassium channel blockers with the aim of increasing neuronal excitability and observed that under these conditions, postnatal Hb9 interneurons exhibited bursts of action potentials with underlying voltage-independent spikelets. The bursts were insensitive to antagonists to fast chemical synaptic transmission, and the bursting and spikelets were blocked by tetrodotoxin. Calcium imaging studies using 2-photon excitation in spinal cord slices revealed that clustered Hb9 interneurons exhibited synchronous and occasional asynchronous, calcium transients that were also insensitive to fast synaptic transmission blockade. All transients were blocked by the gap junction blocker carbenoxolone. Paired whole cell patch-clamp recordings of Hb9 interneurons in the late postnatal mouse revealed common chemical synaptic inputs but no evidence of current transfer (i.e., electrotonic coupling) between the neurons. However, Hb9 and a previously defined population of non-Hb9 interneurons were electrotonically coupled. In the absence of fast chemical transmission in the whole spinal cord preparation, 2-photon excitation calcium imaging revealed bursting activity of Hb9 interneurons synchronous with rhythmic ventral root output. Thus Hb9 interneurons are both endogenous bursters and rhythmically active within a heterogeneous electrotonically coupled network. A network with these properties could produce the wide range of stable rhythms necessary for locomotor activity.
参与产生节律性运动活动的哺乳动物脊髓网络中的神经元和机制在很大程度上仍未明确。Hb9中间神经元是小鼠脊髓中一小群离散定位的中间神经元,是条件性爆发神经元。在这里,我们应用钾通道阻滞剂以增加神经元兴奋性,并观察到在这些条件下,出生后的Hb9中间神经元表现出动作电位爆发,并伴有潜在的电压非依赖性小尖峰。这些爆发对快速化学突触传递拮抗剂不敏感,并且爆发和小尖峰被河豚毒素阻断。使用双光子激发对脊髓切片进行钙成像研究表明,聚集的Hb9中间神经元表现出同步且偶尔异步的钙瞬变,这些瞬变对快速突触传递阻断也不敏感。所有瞬变都被缝隙连接阻滞剂羧苄青霉素阻断。对出生后晚期小鼠的Hb9中间神经元进行配对全细胞膜片钳记录,发现存在常见的化学突触输入,但没有证据表明神经元之间存在电流传递(即电紧张耦合)。然而,Hb9与先前定义的非Hb9中间神经元群体存在电紧张耦合。在整个脊髓标本中不存在快速化学传递的情况下,双光子激发钙成像显示Hb9中间神经元的爆发活动与节律性腹根输出同步。因此,Hb9中间神经元既是内源性爆发神经元,又在异质性电紧张耦合网络中具有节律性活动。具有这些特性的网络可以产生运动活动所需的广泛稳定节律。