Gamma band activity in the developing parafascicular nucleus (Pf)

KEZUNOVIC N; HYDE J; SIMON C; URBANO FJ; WILLIAMS DK; GARCIA-RILL E

JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY

AMER PHYSIOLOGICAL SOC

Lugar: Bethesda, MD, USA; Año: 2012 vol. 107 p. 772 - 784

0022-3077

The parafascicular nucleus (Pf) receives cholinergic input from the pedunculopontine nucleus, part of the reticular activating system involved in waking and REM sleep, and sends projections to the cortex. We tested the hypothesis that Pf neurons fire maximally at gamma band frequency (30-90 Hz), that this mechanism involves high threshold voltage-dependent P/Q- and N-type calcium channels, and that this activity is enhanced by the cholinergic agonist carbachol (CAR).Patch-clamped 9-25 day rat Pf neurons (n=299) manifested a firing frequency plateau at gamma band when maximally activated (31.5±1.5 Hz), showed gamma oscillations when voltage-clamped at holding potentials above -20 mV, and the frequency of the oscillations increased significantly with age (24.6±3.8 Hz vs 51.6±4.4 Hz, p