Eatock Ruth Anne, Xue Jingbing, Kalluri Radha
Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2008 Jun;211(Pt 11):1764-74. doi: 10.1242/jeb.017350.
Rodent vestibular afferent neurons offer several advantages as a model system for investigating the significance and origins of regularity in neuronal firing interval. Their regularity has a bimodal distribution that defines regular and irregular afferent classes. Factors likely to be involved in setting firing regularity include the morphology and physiology of the afferents' contacts with hair cells, which may influence the averaging of synaptic noise and the afferents' intrinsic electrical properties. In vitro patch clamp studies on the cell bodies of primary vestibular afferents reveal a rich diversity of ion channels, with indications of at least two neuronal populations. Here we suggest that firing patterns of isolated vestibular ganglion somata reflect intrinsic ion channel properties, which in vivo combine with hair cell synaptic drive to produce regular and irregular firing.
啮齿动物的前庭传入神经元作为研究神经元放电间隔规律性的意义和起源的模型系统具有若干优势。它们的规律性具有双峰分布，可定义规则和不规则传入类别。可能参与设定放电规律性的因素包括传入神经与毛细胞接触的形态和生理学，这可能会影响突触噪声的平均以及传入神经的内在电特性。对初级前庭传入神经细胞体进行的体外膜片钳研究揭示了丰富多样的离子通道，表明至少存在两个神经元群体。我们在此提出，分离的前庭神经节细胞体的放电模式反映了内在离子通道特性，在体内这些特性与毛细胞突触驱动相结合，产生规则和不规则放电。
