Electrophysiology of hypothalamic magnocellular neurons in vitro: A rhythmic drive in organotypic cultures and acute slices
Front. Neurosci.. 2016-03-31; 10:
DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00109
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1. Front Neurosci. 2016 Mar 31;10:109. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00109. eCollection
2016.
Electrophysiology of Hypothalamic Magnocellular Neurons In vitro: A Rhythmic
Drive in Organotypic Cultures and Acute Slices.
Israel JM(1), Oliet SH(1), Ciofi P(1).
Author information:
(1)U1215, Neurocentre Magendie, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche
MédicaleBordeaux, France; Université de BordeauxBordeaux, France.
Hypothalamic neurohormones are released in a pulsatile manner. The mechanisms of
this pulsatility remain poorly understood and several hypotheses are available,
depending upon the neuroendocrine system considered. Among these systems,
hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal magnocellular neurons have been early-considered
models, as they typically display an electrical activity consisting of bursts of
action potentials that is optimal for the release of boluses of the neurohormones
oxytocin and vasopressin. The cellular mechanisms underlying this bursting
behavior have been studied in vitro, using either acute slices of the adult
hypothalamus, or organotypic cultures of neonatal hypothalamic tissue. We have
recently proposed, from experiments in organotypic cultures, that specific
central pattern generator networks, upstream of magnocellular neurons, determine
their bursting activity. Here, we have tested whether a similar hypothesis can be
derived from in vitro experiments in acute slices of the adult hypothalamus. To
this aim we have screened our electrophysiological recordings of the
magnocellular neurons, previously obtained from acute slices, with an analysis of
autocorrelation of action potentials to detect a rhythmic drive as we recently
did for organotypic cultures. This confirmed that the bursting behavior of
magnocellular neurons is governed by central pattern generator networks whose
rhythmic drive, and thus probably integrity, is however less satisfactorily
preserved in the acute slices from adult brains.
DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00109
PMCID: PMC4814512
PMID: 27065780