Zhou Chen, Yang Aiying, Chai Zhen
State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Cytotechnology. 2012 Mar;64(2):173-9. doi: 10.1007/s10616-011-9405-2. Epub 2011 Dec 6.
Voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels (VGCCs) are key regulators of many neuronal functions, and involved in multiple central nervous system diseases. In the last 30 years, a large number of injury and disease models have been established based on cultured neurons. Culture with serum develops a mixture of neurons and glial cells, while culture without serum develops pure neurons. Both of these neuronal-culture methods are widely used. However, the properties of Ca(2+) currents in neurons from these two cultures have not been compared. In this study, we cultured rat cortical neurons in serum-containing or -free medium and then recorded the Ca(2+) channel currents using patch-clamp technique. Our results showed that there were significant differences in the amplitude and activation properties of whole-cell Ca(2+) channel currents, and of non-L-type Ca(2+) channel currents between the neurons from these two culture systems. Our data suggested that the difference of whole-cell Ca(2+) currents may result from the differences in non-L-type currents. Understanding of these properties will considerably advance studies of VGCCs in neurons from pure or mixed culture.
电压门控性钙通道（VGCCs）是多种神经元功能的关键调节因子，并参与多种中枢神经系统疾病。在过去30年里，基于培养的神经元建立了大量损伤和疾病模型。含血清培养会产生神经元和神经胶质细胞的混合物，而无血清培养则产生纯神经元。这两种神经元培养方法都被广泛使用。然而，尚未对这两种培养物中神经元的钙电流特性进行比较。在本研究中，我们将大鼠皮质神经元培养于含血清或无血清培养基中，然后使用膜片钳技术记录钙通道电流。我们的结果表明，这两种培养系统来源的神经元之间，全细胞钙通道电流以及非L型钙通道电流的幅度和激活特性存在显著差异。我们的数据表明，全细胞钙电流的差异可能源于非L型电流的差异。了解这些特性将极大地推动对纯培养或混合培养神经元中VGCCs的研究。
