Open AccessGABA Excites and Sculpts Immature Neurons Well before Delivery: Modulation by GABA of the Development of Ventricular Progenitor Cells
Author(s) -
BenAri Yehezkel
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
epilepsy currents
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.415
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1535-7511
pISSN - 1535-7597
DOI - 10.1111/j.1535-7511.2007.00214.x
Subject(s) - excitatory postsynaptic potential , neuroscience , gabaa receptor , depolarization , somatosensory system , in vivo , membrane potential , progenitor cell , gabaergic , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , receptor , medicine , endocrinology , stem cell
Cancedda L, Fiumelli H, Chen K, Poo MM. J Neurosci 2007;27(19):5224–5235. GABA exerts excitatory actions on embryonic and neonatal cortical neurons, but the in vivo function of this GABA excitation is essentially unknown. Using in utero electroporation, we eliminated the excitatory action of GABA in a subpopulation of rat ventricular progenitors and cortical neurons derived from these progenitors by premature expression of the Cl − transporter KCC2, as confirmed by the changes in the reversal potential of GABA‐induced currents and the resting membrane potential after GABA A receptor blockade. We found that radial migration to layer II/III of the somatosensory cortex of neurons derived from the transfected progenitors was not significantly affected, but their morphological maturation was markedly impaired. Furthermore, reducing neuronal excitability of cortical neurons in vivo by overexpressing an inward‐rectifying K + channel, which lowered the resting membrane potential, mimicked the effect of premature KCC2 expression. Thus, membrane depolarization caused by early GABA excitation is critical for morphological maturation of neonatal cortical neurons in vivo .