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The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 85 No. 5 May 2001, pp. 1899-1906
Copyright ©2001 by the American Physiological Society
Systems Neurobiology Laboratories, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California 92037
Murphy, Gabe J. and
Sascha Du
Lac.
Postnatal Development of Spike Generation in Rat Medial
Vestibular Nucleus Neurons. J. Neurophysiol. 85: 1899-1906, 2001. Image stability during self motion depends on
the combined actions of the vestibuloocular and optokinetic reflexes
(VOR and OKR, respectively). Neurons in the medial vestibular nucleus
(MVN) participate in the VOR and OKR by firing in response to both head and image motion. Their intrinsic spike-generating properties enable
MVN neurons to modulate firing rates linearly over a broad range of
input amplitudes and frequencies such as those that occur during
natural head and image motion. This study examines the postnatal
development of the intrinsic spike-generating properties of rat MVN
neurons with respect to maturation of peripheral vestibular and visual
function. Spike generation was studied in a brain stem slice
preparation by recording firing responses to current injected intracellularly through whole cell patch electrodes. MVN neurons fired
spontaneously and modulated their firing rate in response to injected
current at all postnatal ages. However, the input-output properties of
the spike generator changed dramatically during the first two postnatal
weeks. Neurons younger than postnatal day 10 could not fire faster than
80 spikes/s, modulated their firing rates over a limited range of input
amplitudes, and tended to exhibit a nonlinear relationship between
input current and mean evoked firing rate. In response to sustained
depolarization, firing rates declined significantly in young neurons.
Response gains tended to be highest in the first few postnatal days but varied widely across neurons and were not correlated with age. By about
the beginning of the third postnatal week, MVN neurons could fire
faster than 100 spikes/s in response to a broad range of input
amplitudes, exhibited predominantly linear current-firing rate
relationships, and adapted little in response to sustained depolarization. Concomitant decreases in action potential width and the
time course of the afterhyperpolarization suggest that changes in
potassium currents contribute to the maturation of the MVN neuronal
spike generator. The results demonstrate that developmental changes in
intrinsic membrane properties enable MVN neurons to fire linearly in
response to a broad range of stimuli in time for the onset of visual
function at the beginning of the third postnatal week.
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