Issue Archive

[In vitro whole-cell patch clamp recordings of neurons in subnuclei of mouse inferior colliculus.] [Article in Chinese]

LIU Ling, DU Xiao-Feng, FU Xin, LI Hui, JIA Hui-Juan, WANG Xin, LUO Feng^*, CHEN Qi-Cai

Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079

Abstract

The inferior colliculus (IC) is a pivot along the central auditory pathway. Using infrared visual whole-cell patch clamp recording technique, we investigated the electrophysiological properties of IC subnuclei neurons. Recordings were made from 88 neurons, including 21 neurons from the dorsal cortex of the IC (ICd), 43 neurons from the central nucleus of the IC (ICc) and 24 neurons from the external cortex of the IC (ICx). Based on the responses to positive current injection, three firing patterns, i.e., onset (6.8%,
n = 6), adapting (39.8%, n = 35) and sustained (53.4%, n = 47) patterns, were identified. The hyperpolarization-activated inward current (Ih) could be recorded in half of the neurons (49/88). The sustained pattern occurred in more than half of ICd and ICc neurons (61.9% and 67.4%), while the adapting pattern occurred in majority of ICx neurons (75%). Action potential (AP) threshold and time constant also showed significant differences across neurons from the ICd, the ICc and the ICx. Our results indicate that IC neurons are different in electrophysiological properties across the subnuclei. The variance of the responses may be related to the distinct types of neurons as well as the received projections, which is implicated in the distinct roles of IC neurons in central auditory processing.

Key words: whole-cell patch clamp; inferior colliculus; firing pattern; mouse

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 罗峰　　E-mail: fluocn@gmail.com

Citing This Article：

LIU Ling, DU Xiao-Feng, FU Xin, LI Hui, JIA Hui-Juan, WANG Xin, LUO Feng, CHEN Qi-Cai. [In vitro whole-cell patch clamp recordings of neurons in subnuclei of mouse inferior colliculus.] [Article in Chinese]. Acta Physiol Sin 2015; 67 (4): 370-378 (in Chinese with English abstract).