Characterization of functional subgroups among genetically identified cholinergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus.

Characterization of functional subgroups among genetically identified cholinergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2019 Feb 08;: Authors: Baksa B, Kovács A, Bayasgalan T, Szentesi P, Kőszeghy Á, Szücs P, Pál B Abstract The pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) is a part of the reticular activating system which is composed of cholinergic, glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons. Early electrophysiological studies characterized and grouped PPN neurons based on certain functional properties (i.e., the presence or absence of the A-current, spike latency, and low threshold spikes). Although other electrophysiological characteristics of these neurons were also described (as high threshold membrane potential oscillations, great differences in spontaneous firing rate and the presence or absence of the M-current), systematic assessment of these properties and correlation of them with morphological markers are still missing. In this work, we conducted electrophysiological experiments on brain slices of genetically identified cholinergic neurons in the PPN. Electrophysiological properties were compared with rostrocaudal location of the neuronal soma and selected morphometric features obtained with post hoc reconstruction. We found that functional subgroups had different proportions in the rostral and caudal subregions of the nucleus. Neurons with A-current can be divided to early-firing and late-firing neurons, where the la...
Source: Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences : CMLS - Category: Cytology Authors: Tags: Cell Mol Life Sci Source Type: research