Wang Bo, Yin Luping, Zou Xiaolong, Ye Min, Liu Yaping, He Ting, Deng Suixin, Jiang Yanbo, Zheng Rui, Wang Yun, Yang Mingpo, Lu Haidong, Wu Si, Shu Yousheng
Institute of Neuroscience and State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, School of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Cell Rep. 2015 Mar 10;10(9):1450-1458. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2015.02.018. Epub 2015 Mar 5.
A critical step in understanding the neural basis of human cognitive functions is to identify neuronal types in the neocortex. In this study, we performed whole-cell recording from human cortical slices and found a distinct subpopulation of neurons with intrinsic persistent activity that could be triggered by single action potentials (APs) but terminated by bursts of APs. This persistent activity was associated with a depolarizing plateau potential induced by the activation of a persistent Na current. Single-cell RT-PCR revealed that these neurons were inhibitory interneurons. This type of neuron was found in different cortical regions, including temporal, frontal, occipital, and parietal cortices in human and also in frontal and temporal lobes of nonhuman primate but not in rat cortical tissues, suggesting that it could be unique to primates. The characteristic persistent activity in these inhibitory interneurons may contribute to the regulation of pyramidal cell activity and participate in cortical processing.
理解人类认知功能神经基础的关键一步是识别新皮层中的神经元类型。在本研究中，我们对人类皮质切片进行了全细胞记录，发现了一个独特的具有内在持续活动的神经元亚群，这种活动可由单个动作电位（AP）触发，但由AP爆发终止。这种持续活动与由持续性钠电流激活诱导的去极化平台电位有关。单细胞逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）显示这些神经元是抑制性中间神经元。在人类的不同皮质区域，包括颞叶、额叶、枕叶和顶叶皮质以及非人类灵长类动物的额叶和颞叶中都发现了这种类型的神经元，但在大鼠皮质组织中未发现，这表明它可能是灵长类动物所特有的。这些抑制性中间神经元的特征性持续活动可能有助于调节锥体细胞活动并参与皮质处理。
