Involvement of Pannexin-1 in the Mechanism of Deprivation Potentiation of Population Spikes of Neurons in Rat Hippocampal Field CA1

Abstract

Testing of the connections of Schaffer collaterals with field CA1 neurons in living slices of rat hippocampus was used to study the mechanism of deprivation potentiation (DeP) of population spikes developing as a result of a 60-min pause in stimulation (deprivation). Previous studies have shown that DeP has the property of input specificity and the ability to persist for prolonged periods; it consists of two components with independent mechanisms of induction: an initial short-term “peak” of presynaptic origin and a long-lasting “plateau” with a Ca2+-dependent postsynaptic mechanism mediated by P2 purine receptors. Studies of the properties of the input specificity of DeP were run using stimulation of two different populations of Schaffer collaterals and recording of pop-spikes in the general population of neurons in field CA1. These experiments showed that changes in synaptic efficiency in the deprived input depend only on a presynaptic mechanism responsible for the development of the short-term component of DeP. Studies of the postsynaptic mechanism of induction of the long-term component of DeP demonstrated that the function of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) source required for activation of P2 purine receptors is mediated by pannexin-1, which forms ATP-conducting channels on the postsynapse. A working model of the cyclic mechanism of induction of the long-term component of DeP is presented.