RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Patch-Clamp Recordings from Cerebellar Basket Cell Bodies and Their Presynaptic Terminals Reveal an Asymmetric Distribution of Voltage-Gated Potassium Channels
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 948
OP 955
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.18-03-00948.1998
VO 18
IS 3
A1 Southan, Andrew P.
A1 Robertson, Brian
YR 1998
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/18/3/948.abstract
AB Cerebellar basket cells form highly specialized inhibitory synaptic contacts with Purkinje cells, namely the pericellular basket and pinceau nerve terminal structures, wrapping around the Purkinje cell somatic and axon hillock regions. These inhibitory synaptic contacts are ideally located to control the ultimate output of the cerebellar cortex. Previous immunohistochemical studies have shown that these synaptic structures possess a very high density of the dendrotoxin (DTX)-sensitive potassium channel subunit, Kv1.2. We have taken advantage of this unique anatomical arrangement offering a high concentration of identified Kv channel subunits by combining whole-cell patch-clamp recording and fluorescence microscopy to establish a novel preparation and perform the first recordings from unambiguously identified mammalian CNS inhibitory presynaptic terminals. We report that DTX-sensitive potassium channels are present in basket cell terminals but not in the basket cell soma. This selective cellular distribution suggests that these channels play an important role in modulating cerebellar inhibitory synaptic transmission.