White noise analysis of central vestibular neurons with sharp electrodes in whole brain preparations

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Event Abstract Back to Event White noise analysis of central vestibular neurons with sharp electrodes in whole brain preparations Christian Rössert1*, Stefan Glasauer1, Lee E. Moore2 and Hans Straka2 1 Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Germany 2 University Paris Descartes, France The signal processing in neuronal networks is determined by intrinsic membrane properties of individual neuronal elements as well as by the synaptic circuitry. The best approach to study the contribution of the synaptic networks to the signal processing is a preparation with an intact circuitry and the use of sharp recording electrodes. In contrast, faithful studies of membrane channel dynamics, especially with regard to modelling, are mostly done in slice preparations using low resistant patch electrodes. The main advantage of this latter approach is the easy control of the membrane potential, which allows detailed analyses of ion channel kinetics with standard electrophysiological methods. However, in slice preparations large parts of the network and dendritic structures are destroyed, making this approach for a complete understanding of the transformation of presynaptic inputs in single cells less suitable. We therefore investigated the possibility to employ sharp electrodes for intracellular recordings with 'white noise' stimulation for a characterization of intrinsic membrane properties of single neurons in a whole brain preparation with functionally intact feed-back and feed-forward circuits. For this purpose second-order vestibular neurons were intracellularly recorded with sharp electrodes in an isolated whole brain preparation of adult frogs in vitro and were synaptically activated by electrical stimulation of individual labyrinthine nerve branches. Sharp electrodes are no simple RC elements and not only rectify but have distributed resistances that are difficult to describe quantitatively, particularly during high-frequency current injection. Therefore, a method was developed that uses subtraction of the electrode properties from the combination of both electrode and cell in the frequency domain, following separate measurements of the electrode alone. In addition, all measurements were performed without capacitance or bridge compensation by the amplifier. This allowed us to obtain details of the membrane properties by a 'white noise' analysis with electrode resistances of ~100 MOhm and to create realistic Hodgkin-Huxley models for the channel kinetics from these data. Thus, sharp electrodes are suitable for both, the characterization of intrinsic properties of neurons, as well as the analysis of network contributions to the synaptic activation. Using selective pharmacological manipulations it will be possible to differentiate between the effects of the intrinsic properties of the membrane and the emerging properties of the network to the processing of synaptic inputs in intact brains. Conference: Bernstein Symposium 2008, Munich, Germany, 8 Oct - 10 Oct, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: All Abstracts Citation: Rössert C, Glasauer S, Moore LE and Straka H (2008). White noise analysis of central vestibular neurons with sharp electrodes in whole brain preparations. Front. Comput. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Bernstein Symposium 2008. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.10.2008.01.107 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 17 Nov 2008; Published Online: 17 Nov 2008. * Correspondence: Christian Rössert, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany, christian.a@roessert.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Christian Rössert Stefan Glasauer Lee E Moore Hans Straka Google Christian Rössert Stefan Glasauer Lee E Moore Hans Straka Google Scholar Christian Rössert Stefan Glasauer Lee E Moore Hans Straka PubMed Christian Rössert Stefan Glasauer Lee E Moore Hans Straka Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.