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J Neurophysiol (December 12, 2007). doi:10.1152/jn.00930.2007
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00930.2007v1
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Submitted on August 17, 2007
Accepted on December 11, 2007

Circadian- and light-dependent regulation of resting membrane potential and spontaneous action potential firing of Drosophila circadian pacemaker neurons

Vasu Sheeba1, Huaiyu Gu2, Vijay Kumar Sharma3, Diane K O'Dowd4, and Todd C. Holmes5*

1 Physiology and Biophysics, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States
2 Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States
3 Evolutionary and Organismal Biology, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre For Advanced Scientific Research, Irvine, California, United States
4 Anatomy and Neurobiology; Dev. and Cell Biology, Univeristy of California - Irvine, Irvine, California, United States
5 Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, United States

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tholmes{at}uci.edu.

The ventral lateral neurons (LNv) of adult Drosophila brain express oscillating clock proteins and regulate circadian behavior. Whole cell current clamp recordings of large LNv in freshly dissected Drosophila whole brain preparations reveal two spontaneous activity patterns that correlate with two underlying patterns of oscillating membrane potential: tonic and burst firing of sodium dependent action potentials. Resting membrane potential and spontaneous action potential firing are rapidly and reversibly regulated by acute changes in light intensity. The LNv electrophysiological light response is attenuated, but not abolished in cryb mutant flies hypomorphic for the cell-autonomous light-sensing protein CRYPTOCHROME (CRY). The electrical activity of the large LNv is circadian regulated, as shown by significantly higher resting membrane potential and frequency of spontaneous action potential firing rate and burst firing pattern during circadian subjective day relative to subjective night. The circadian regulation of membrane potential, spontaneous action potential firing frequency and pattern of Drosophila large LNv closely resembles mammalian circadian neuron electrical characteristics, suggesting a general evolutionary conservation of both physiological and molecular oscillator mechanisms in pacemaker neurons.




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