Potassium channels regulate numerous aspects of neuronal excitability, and several voltage-gated K(+) channel subunits have been identified in pyramidal neurons of rat neocortex.
Previous studies have either considered the development of outward current as a whole or divided currents into transient, A-type and persistent, delayed rectifier components but did not differentiate between current components defined by α-subunit type.
To facilitate comparisons of studies reporting K(+) currents from animals of different ages and to understand the functional roles of specific current components, we characterized the postnatal development of identified Kv channel-mediated currents in pyramidal neurons from layers II/III from rat somatosensory cortex.
Both the persistent/slowly inactivating and transient components of the total K(+) current increased in density with postnatal age.
We used specific pharmacological agents to test the relative contributions of putative Kv1- and Kv2-mediated currents (100 nM α-dendrotoxin and 600 nM stromatoxin, respectively). A combination of voltage protocol, pharmacology, and curve fitting was used to isolate the rapidly inactivating A-type current.
We found that the density of all identified current components increased with postnatal age, approaching a plateau at 3-5 wk.
We found no significant changes in the relative proportions or kinetics of any component between postnatal weeks 1 and 5, except that the activation time constant for A-type current was longer at 1 wk.
The putative Kv2-mediated component was the largest at all ages.
Immunocytochemistry indicated that protein expression for Kv4.2, Kv4.3, Kv1.4, and Kv2.1 increased between 1 wk and 4-5 wk of age.
2011-06-17
Eng.
Journal of neurophysiology
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, USA.
J Neurophysiol. 2011 Jun;105(6):2976-88
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