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Poster Presentations
Author(s) -
Botelho, FP,
Jiang, Q,
Ma, CW,
Shi, W,
Chan, YS,
Lai, CH,
Shum, DKY
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/jnc.12778
Subject(s) - citation , library science , neurochemistry , computer science , information retrieval , world wide web , psychology , psychiatry , neurology
Poster Presentation 2Determining the plastic properties of neurotransmission within the
neonatal vestibular nucleus (VN) is essential to our understanding of
how the central vestibular system undergoes maturation during
development. Using whole-cell patch-clamp recording in brainstem
slices, we found that most VN neurons of postnatal day (P) 3-5 rats
exhibited long-term depression (LTD) of GABAA receptor-mediated
evoked-postsynaptic currents. At this stage, these currents were excitatory in nature. By P14, LTD of these currents, which became
inhibitory, was observed in only a small proportion of VN neurons.
In contrast, long-term potentiation (LTP) of these currents was
observed in about half of VN neurons. By P28, however, a sharp
rebound of LTD in conjunction with a significant decrease in LTP
occurred, such that the proportion of VN neurons showing LTD
became higher than that showing LTP. These results indicate a
postnatal period during which biphasic plastic feature of GABAergic
VN synapses is observed. To further study the role of
GABAergic transmission in the VN on developmental acquisition
of vestibular behavior, we implanted above the VN of P1 rats with
Elvax slice loaded with GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline or
agonist muscimol. These rats, when tested at adult stage, showed
deficit in vestibular function, as indicated by impairment of
performance in the rota-rod task, a vestibular-dependent behavior.
Taken together, we have delineated the developmental profile of
central vestibular plasticity in GABAergic transmission, which
contributes to the establishment of mature vestibular function.
(Supported by RGC 761812M)link_to_OA_fulltex