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Current- and Voltage-Clamp Recordings and Computer Simulations of Kenyon Cells in the Honeybee

¹Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Center for Computational Biomedicine, The University of Texas–Houston Medical School, Houston, Texas 77030; and ²Institut für Biologie, Neurobiologie, Freie Universität Berlin, D-14 195 Berlin, Germany

Submitted 23 December 2003; accepted in final form 3 June 2004

The mushroom body of the insect brain is an important locus for olfactory information processing and associative learning. The present study investigated the biophysical properties of Kenyon cells, which form the mushroom body. Current- and voltage-clamp analyses were performed on cultured Kenyon cells from honeybees. Current-clamp analyses indicated that Kenyon cells did not spike spontaneously in vitro. However, spikes could be elicited by current injection in approximately 85% of the cells. Of the cells that produced spikes during a 1-s depolarizing current pulse, approximately 60% exhibited repetitive spiking, whereas the remaining approximately 40% fired a single spike. Cells that spiked repetitively showed little frequency adaptation. However, spikes consistently became broader and smaller during repetitive activity. Voltage-clamp analyses characterized a fast transient Na⁺ current (I_Na), a delayed rectifier K⁺ current (I_K,V), and a fast transient K⁺ current (I_K,A). Using the neurosimulator SNNAP, a Hodgkin–Huxley-type model was developed and used to investigate the roles of the different currents during spiking. The model led to the prediction of a slow transient outward current (I_K,ST) that was subsequently identified by reevaluating the voltage-clamp data. Simulations indicated that the primary currents that underlie spiking are I_Na and I_K,V, whereas I_K,A and I_K,ST primarily determined the responsiveness of the model to stimuli such as constant or oscillatory injections of current.

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