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Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 4, 2866-2876, Copyright © 1984 by Society for Neuroscience
The control of firing pattern in nigral dopamine neurons: single spike firing
AA Grace and BS Bunney
Dopamine (DA) neurons have been recorded in vivo in four states of
activity: hyperpolarized, nonfiring; single spike firing; burst firing; and
depolarization inactivation. Nonfiring DA neurons can be made to fire by
iontophoretic application of the excitatory substances glutamate and
cholecystokinin, or by depolarizing current injection. Spontaneously active
DA cells typically fire in a slow (3 to 8 Hz) irregular pattern. In vivo
intracellular recordings revealed that this pattern is sustained by the
alternation of two currents: a spontaneously occurring slow depolarization
(13 +/- 3 mV amplitude, 78 +/- 40 msec duration) which brings the membrane
potential of the DA cell to spike threshold (-42 mV), and an
afterhyperpolarization mediated by a calcium-activated potassium
conductance (IK(Ca)). The slow depolarization is a pacemaker-like
conductance, with a rate of rise proportional to the membrane potential.
The regular pacemaker pattern of the spontaneously occurring slow
depolarization is interrupted by the IK(Ca) which appears to be triggered
by calcium entry during the action potential. Thus, intracellular injection
of the calcium chelator EGTA will cause DA cells to fire in a regular,
pacemaker pattern. The IK(Ca) is observed after single spikes and trains of
spikes with the amplitude of the afterhyperpolarization being proportional
to the number of spikes in a train. Both the afterhyperpolarization and the
firing accommodation observed during depolarizing current injection can be
blocked by intracellular injection of the calcium chelator EGTA.
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