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The Journal of Neuroscience, March 1, 2003, 23(5):1840
Excitatory Actions of Endogenously Released GABA Contribute to
Initiation of Ictal Epileptiform Activity in the Developing Hippocampus
Volodymyr I.
Dzhala and
Kevin J.
Staley
Department of Neurology and Pediatrics, University of Colorado
Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80262
In the developing rat hippocampus, ictal epileptiform activity can
be elicited easily in vitro during the first three
postnatal weeks. Changes in neuronal ion transport during this time
cause the effects of GABAA receptor (GABAA-R)
activation to shift gradually from strongly depolarizing to
hyperpolarizing. It is not known whether the depolarizing effects of
GABA and the propensity for ictal activity are causally linked. A key
question is whether the GABA-mediated depolarization is excitatory,
which we defined operationally as being sufficient to trigger action
potentials. We assessed the effect of endogenous GABA on ictal activity
and neuronal firing rate in hippocampal slices from postnatal day 1 (P1) to P30. In extracellular recordings, there was a strong correlation between the postnatal age at which GABAA-R
antagonists decreased action potential frequency (P23) and the age at
which ictal activity could be induced by elevated potassium (P23). In addition, there was a strong correlation between the fraction of slices
in which ictal activity was induced by elevated potassium concentrations and the fractional decrease in action potential firing
when GABAA-Rs were blocked in the presence of ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonists. Finally, ictal activity induced by
elevated potassium was blocked by the GABAA-R antagonists
bicuculline and SR-95531 (gabazine) and increased in frequency and
duration by GABAA-R agonists isoguvacine and muscimol.
Thus, the propensity of the developing hippocampus for ictal activity
is highly correlated with the effect of GABA on action potential
probability and reversed by GABAA antagonists, indicating
that GABA-mediated excitation is causally linked to ictal activity in
this developmental window.
Key words:
GABA; action potential; epileptiform activity; hippocampus; CA3; development
Copyright © 2003 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/03/2351840-07$05.00/0
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