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Lack of vesicular zinc in mossy fibers does not affect synaptic excitability of CA3 pyramidal cells in zinc transporter 3 knockout mice
- Source :
- Neuroscience. 116:237-248
- Publication Year :
- 2003
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2003.
-
Abstract
- Zinc is found throughout the CNS in synaptic vesicles of glutamatergic neurons and has been suggested to have a modulatory role in the brain because of its interaction with voltage- and ligand-gated ion channels. We took advantage of zinc transporter 3 knockout mice, which lack vesicular zinc, to study the possible physiological role of this heavy metal in hippocampal mossy fiber neurotransmission. We examined postsynaptic responses evoked by mossy fiber activation, recorded in CA3 pyramidal cells in hippocampal slices prepared from zinc transporter 3 knockout and wild-type mice. Field-potential response threshold and amplitude, input-output curves, and paired-pulse evoked responses were the same in slices from zinc transporter 3 knockout and wild-type mice. Furthermore, neither amplitude nor duration of pharmacologically isolated N -methyl- d -aspartate, non- N -methyl- d -aspartate, GABA A , and GABA B receptor-mediated postsynaptic potentials differed between zinc transporter 3 knockout and wild-type mice. There was no difference in the magnitude of epileptiform discharges evoked by repetitive stimulation or kainic acid application. However, in slices from zinc transporter 3 knockout mice, there was greater attenuation of GABA A -mediated inhibitory postsynaptic potentials during tetanic stimulation compared with slices from wild-type animals. We conclude that lack of vesicular zinc in mossy fibers does not significantly affect the mossy fiber-associated synaptic excitability of CA3 pyramidal cells; however, zinc may modulate GABAergic synaptic transmission under conditions of intensive activation.
- Subjects :
- Male
Mossy fiber (hippocampus)
Patch-Clamp Techniques
Neurotransmission
Inhibitory postsynaptic potential
Hippocampus
Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate
Synaptic Transmission
Synaptic vesicle
Mice
Postsynaptic potential
Animals
Hippocampal mossy fiber
Mice, Knockout
Kainic Acid
Chemistry
Pyramidal Cells
General Neuroscience
Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials
Neural Inhibition
Receptors, GABA-A
Cell biology
Electrophysiology
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Zinc
Receptors, GABA-B
Receptors, Glutamate
Mossy Fibers, Hippocampal
Excitatory postsynaptic potential
GABAergic
Synaptic Vesicles
Carrier Proteins
Neuroscience
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 03064522
- Volume :
- 116
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Neuroscience
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....1755ed85f143f60aa300967f76e7ca84