Role of a Striatal Slowly Inactivating Potassium Current in Short-Term Facilitation of Corticostriatal Inputs: A Computer Simulation Study
Abstract
Striatal output neurons (SONs) integrate glutamatergic synaptic inputs originating from the cerebral cortex. In vivo electrophysiological data have shown that a prior depolarization of SONs induced a short-term (≤1 sec) increase in their membrane excitability, which facilitated the ability of corticostriatal synaptic potentials to induce firing. Here we propose, using a computational model of SONs, that the use-dependent, short-term increase in the responsiveness of SONs mainly results from the slow kinetics of a voltage-dependent, slowly inactivating potassium A-current. This mechanism confers on SONs a form of intrinsic short-term memory that optimizes the synaptic input–output relationship as a function of their past activation.
Footnotes
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↵3 Corresponding author.
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E-MAIL severine.mahon{at}snv.jussieu.fr; FAX 33-1-44-27-26-69.
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Article and publication are at www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.34800.
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- Received June 19, 2000.
- Accepted August 10, 2000.
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press