Cellular and Molecular NeuroscienceMorphological and electrophysiological characteristics of neurons within identified subnuclei of the lateral habenula in rat brain slices
Research Highlights
▶ The rat LHb comprises a morphological heterogeneous population of projection neurons. ▶ Defined cell morphologies are not related to distinct electrophysiological phenotypes. ▶Distinct LHb neuron functionalities depend on particular afferent connectivity.
Section snippets
Slice preparation
Brain slices were prepared from 10 to 21-d old Wistar rats, which were obtained from an institutional breeder (Forschungseinrichtungen für Experimentelle Medizin, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Krahmerstraβe 6–10, D-12207 Berlin, Germany). All experiments were approved by the Regional Berlin Animals Ethics Committee (T0127/02) and performed in strict accordance with the European Communities Council directive regarding care and use of animals for experimental procedures. All efforts were
Results
The data presented in this study are based on intracellular recordings obtained from 102 neurons in habenular slice preparations of 53 rats. Eighty-five neurons were adequately labeled with neurobiotin and recovered morphologically. Of these, 74 neurons were located within the LHb. Another 11 neurons were situated in the medial habenular complex.
Discussion
In the present study, we describe for the first time a detailed investigation of morphological and electrophysiological properties of identified LHb neurons in relation to subnucleus specificity of their distribution within the lateral habenular complex. Our main observation is that distinct morphologies of projection neurons within the different subnuclei are not related to certain membrane properties and/or modes of electrical responsiveness. Despite differences in cytoarchitecture, LHb
Conclusion
This investigation was based on the assumption that correlations between morphological characteristics, intrinsic membrane properties and spontaneous firing patterns of individual LHb neurons could help defining the identity and relevance of the different LHb subnuclei recently discovered in the lateral habenula of rats. Having recorded from neurons in almost all subnuclei, we conclude that LHb neurons form an electrophysiologically more homogenous cell population than anticipated, given the
Acknowledgments
We thank H. Meyer and R. Lommel for excellent technical assistance, J. Roeper for generous technical and conceptual support, and R. Bernard for helpful discussions and critically review of the manuscript.
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