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The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 87 No. 2 February 2002, pp. 705-711
Copyright ©2002 by the American Physiological Society
1Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, 2Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, Duke University Medical Center; and 3Neurobiology Research Laboratory, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27705
Li, Qiang,
Wilkie A. Wilson, and
H. Scott Swartzwelder.
Differential Effect of Ethanol on NMDA EPSCs in Pyramidal Cells
in the Posterior Cingulate Cortex of Juvenile and Adult
Rats. J. Neurophysiol. 87: 705-711, 2002. Ethanol (EtOH) is a potent inhibitor of
N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated
activity in a number of brain areas, and recent studies have indicated
that this inhibitory effect of ethanol is more powerful in the juvenile
brain compared with the adult brain. However, previous direct
developmental comparisons have been limited to studies of extracellular
responses in the hippocampus. To begin an assessment of the mechanisms
underlying this developmental sensitivity, we assessed the inhibitory
effect of EtOH on NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic transmission in
neocortical slices from adult (95-135 days old) and juvenile (28-32
days old) rats using the whole cell patch-clamp recording technique. In the presence of 6,7-dinitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (20 µM) and
bicuculline methiodine (20 µM), NMDA receptor-mediated excitatory
postsynaptic currents were isolated from pyramidal cells of the
posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). In slices from juvenile rats 5, 10, 30, and 60 mM EtOH reduced the mean amplitude of NMDA
receptor-mediated EPSCs by 11, 22, 35, and 46%, respectively.
However, the same concentrations of EtOH inhibited the mean amplitude
of EPSCs by only 4, 8, 15, and 31% in slices from adult rats. This
developmental difference in the potency of EtOH against NMDA
receptor-mediated EPSCs was also observed when the holding
potential of the neurons was increased to +30 mV, although the
inhibitory effect of ethanol on adult neurons was diminished at that
voltage. These results provide a cellular analysis of the enhanced
potency of ethanol against NMDA receptor-mediated EPSCs in
neocortical cells from juvenile animals compared with adults.
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