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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 90/5/3490    most recent 00447.2003v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (5) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kawa, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kawa, K.

Glycine Receptors and Glycinergic Synaptic Transmission in the Deep Cerebellar Nuclei of the Rat: A Patch-Clamp Study

Department of Neurophysiology, Tohoku University School of Medicine and Core Research for the Evolutional Science and Technology Program, Sendai 980-8575, Japan

Submitted 9 May 2003; accepted in final form 11 July 2003

To clarify possible glycinergic transmission in the cerebellum, principal neurons in deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) of sliced cerebella (200 µm in thickness) from rats (aged 2–14 days) were studied using whole cell patch-clamp techniques. When glycine (100 µM) was applied to the DCN neurons from a "Y tube," large outward currents were induced (average peak amplitude of about 600 pA at -40 mV). The currents were blocked by strychnine (1 µM) and showed a reversal potential of -62 mV, which was approximately the estimated Cl^- equilibrium potential. The dose-response relation of the currents showed an apparent dissociation constant of 170 µM for glycine and Hill coefficient of 1.6. In the presence of 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoziline-2, 3-dione (CNQX), D-(-)-2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid (APV) and bicuculline, which antagonize amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-isoxazol-propionate (APMA), N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), and GABA_A receptors, respectively, postsynaptic currents sensitive to strychnine (1 µM) were induced in DCN neurons by external perfusion of 20 mM K⁺ saline. Electrical stimulation of surrounding tissues in DCN evoked definite inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) in these neurons. The IPSCs had a reversal potential of -62 mV and showed sensitivities to strychnine and tetrodotoxin. Thus this study has revealed that strychnine-sensitive glycine receptors are expressed in neurons of the DCN of rats and that glycinergic transmission mediated by these receptors is functional in these neurons from stages immediately after birth. The glycinergic innervations are presumably supplied by small interneurons located in the DCN.

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