Ca(2+)-dependent plasticity of miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents after amputation of dendrites in central neurons.

1. The effects of cutting off the bulk (> 2/3) of the dendritic tree (dendrotomy) on GABAergic miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPCSs) were studied in granule cells of the adult rat dentate gyrus in 400-microns-thick slices in vitro. 2. After dendrotomy carried out in warm (32 degrees C) control artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF), only small antidromic population spikes could be evoked in the granule cell layer, and no viable whole cell recordings could be obtained. However, when dendrotomy was performed in cold (8-10 degrees C) control ACSF, the amplitude of the antidromic population spikes increased, and stable whole cell recordings became possible. 3. Whole cell recordings, with CsCl-filled pipettes, from granule cells dendrotomized in cold control ACSF, revealed significant alterations, lasting > 10 h, in the decay kinetics of mIPSACs. The change consisted of a calcium-dependent transformation of the normal, single exponential decay into a prolonged double exponential that effectively increased the charge transferred by the synaptic events (the total area of the currents) by 67%. When 30 mM 1,2 bis-(2-aminophenoxy)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA) was included in the pipette, the changes in the mIPSCs decay kinetics could still be observed after dendrotomy, indicating that the maintenance phase of this plasticity did not depend on elevated intracellular calcium levels. 4. Viable whole cell recordings could also be obtained in dendrotomized granule cells when the amputation of dendrites was carried out at 32 degrees C after incubation for 2 h with the cell-permeant Ca2+ chelator, BAPTA-AM (50 microM), or the cutting process was done in an ACSF containing either a combination of excitatory amino acid receptor antagonists 2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid (APV; 25 microM) + 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX; 10 microM), a blocker of intracellular Ca2+ release dantrolene-Na (20 microM), or the voltage-gated Na+ channel blocker tetrodotoxin (TTX; 1 microM). 5. After dendrotomy in BAPTA-AM, APV + CNQX, APV + CNQX + TTX, and/or dantrolene, the changes in decay kinetics were prevented, indicating that a rise in intracellular Ca2+ concentration plays a pivotal role in this plasticity. 6. Computer simulations of mIPSCs suggested that changes in single channel kinetics alone can, in principle, account for the Ca(2+)-dependent changes in mIPSC decay kinetics. 7. These findings are consistent with a lasting Ca(2+)-dependent increase in gamma-aminobutyric acid-A (GABAA) receptor function in cells that survive physical injury to their dendrites.