Neuroendocrine cells of Aplysia brasiliana. I. Bag cell action potentials and afterdischarge.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to F E Dudek.
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Bag cell activity in Aplysia can be recorded intracellularly and extracellularly. Electrical stimulation anywhere along the connective nerves can produce prepotentials which are not synaptic potentials but represent the passive invasion of action potentials blocked in the neurites. Potentiation of these prepotentials results from progressive movement of the site of spike blockade toward the somata. This type of propagation plasticity may occur in many networks of low conduction safety.
Intracellular responses were recorded in vitro from the denate granule cell layer of hippocampal slices prepared from adult rats. Spontaneous activity of granule cells in vitro consisted of action potentials and small, graded depolarizations, presumably of synaptic origin. Granule cells could be activated by injection of depolarizing current or release of hyperpolarizing current. Individual granule cells spatially summed input from the perforant path and fired multiple action potentials in vitro following strong presynaptic volleys. Depolarization decreased and hyperpolarization increased the EPSP amplitude, which is consistent with a conductance-increase mechanism. Although we could demonstrate postexcitatory inhibition in some cells, granule cells in vitro appeared to receive less inhibitory feedback than in vivo, EPSP amplitude and spike output of granule cells showed frequency potentiation and posttetanic potentiation to perforant path stimulation. These intracellular responses in vitro complement some of the findings from field-potential analyses of the dentate gyrus in intact animals.
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The slow PIII component of the electroretinogram (ERG) was studied in the isolated, aspartate-treated carp retina. Although the latter is richly populated with cones, slow PIII appeared to reflect almost exclusively the activity of rods; e.g. the spectral sensitivity of the potential paralleled closely the rod pigment curve, its operating range (i.e. the V-log I curve) was limited to 3 log units above absolute threshold, and raising background intensities to photopic levels produced saturation of the increment threshold function without evidence of a cone-mediated segment. Only after bleaching away a significant fraction of the porphyropsin was it possible to unmask a small photopic contribution to slow PIII, as evidenced by a displacement in the action spectrum to longer wavelengths. The spatial distribution of the slow PIII voltage within the retina (Faber, D.S. 1969. Ph.D. Thesis. State University of New York. Buffalo, N.Y.; Witkovsky, P.J. Nelson, and H. Ripps. 1973. J. Gen Physiol. 61:401) and its ability to survive aspartate treatment indicate that this potential arises in the Müller (glial) fiber. Additional support for this conclusion is provided by the slow rise time (several seconds) and long temporal integration (up to 40s) of the response. In many respects the properties of slow PIII resemble those of the c-wave, a pigment epithelial response also subserved by rod activity. On the other hand, the receptoral (fast PIII) and the b-wave components of the ERG behave quite differently. Unlike slow PIII, response saturation could not be induced, since both potentials are subserved by cones when the stimulus conditions exceed the limits of the scotopic range. Receptors appear to govern light adaptation at photopic background levels; both fast PIII and b-wave manifest identical incremental threshold values over this range of intensities. However, under scotopic conditions, the sensitivity of the b-wave is affected by luminous backgrounds too weak to alter fast PIII threshold, indicating a postreceptoral stage of adaptation.