Intracellular study of rat entopeduncular nucleus neurons in an in vitro slice preparation: response to subthalamic stimulation

Abstract

Responses of rat entopeduncular nucleus (EP) neurons after stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STh) and the morphology of the EP neurons were studied using brain slice preparations. EP neurons were classified into two types based on their electrophysiological properties as reported previously. Of 87 EP neurons, 72 were Type I and the rest were Type II. Synaptic responses to STh stimulation were different in these two cell types. STh stimulation evoked excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) followed by strong inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) in Type I neurons and EPSPs without strong IPSPs in Type II neurons. The EPSPs were considered to be monosynaptic because no large change in the latency (1.7 ± 0.5ms) resulted by alteration of stimulus intensity. The EPSPs were reversibly suppressed by kynurenic acid in a dose-dependent manner. Bath application of (+)-tubocurarine (10–50 μM) had no effect on EPSPs or IPSPs. Bath application of bicuculline methiodide (50–100 μM) markedly suppressed IPSPs evoked by STh stimulation and at the same time increased the amplitude and duration of EPSPs without affecting the latency. In the presence of bicuculline methiodide, EPSPs could induce plateau potentials and slow action potentials. Some Type I and Type II neurons were intracellularly labeled by biocytin. Type I neurons were located throughout the EP but Type II neurons were located mainly in the dorsal portion of the EP. Medium sized somata of both Type I and Type II neurons were spine-free and fusiform or round in shape. They had 3–4 thick primary dendrites with diameters of 2–5 μm that branched into thin secondary dendrites. The secondary and tertiary dendrites of Type I neurons were sparsely covered with spines. Dendritic terminals of some Type I neurons had complex arborizations with abundant spines and appendages. The dendrites of Type II neurons were generally smooth and had no complex arborizations at their terminals.