Enhanced excitability of cortical neurons in low-divalent solutions is primarily mediated by altered voltage-dependence of voltage-gated sodium channels
- VA Portland Health Care System, United States
- University of California, San Francisco, United States
Abstract
Increasing extracellular [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]o) strongly decreases intrinsic excitability in neurons but the mechanism is unclear. By one hypothesis, [Ca2+]o screens surface charge, reducing voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) activation and by another [Ca2+]o activates Calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) closing the sodium-leak channel (NALCN). Here we report that neocortical neurons from CaSR-deficient (Casr-/-) mice had more negative resting potentials and did not fire spontaneously in reduced divalent-containing solution (T0.2) compared to wild-type (WT). However, after setting membrane potential to -70 mV, T0.2 application similarly depolarized and increased action potential firing in Casr-/- and WT neurons. Enhanced activation of VGSCs was the dominant contributor to the depolarization and increase in excitability by T0.2 and occurred due to hyperpolarizing shifts in VGSC window currents. CaSR deletion depolarized VGSC window currents but did not affect NALCN activation. Regulation of VGSC gating by external divalents is the key mechanism mediating divalent-dependent changes in neocortical neuron excitability.
Data availability
All data generated are in the manuscript and supporting files. Source provided for Figures 1, 2, and 6 in the manuscript.
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Funding
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (BX002547)
- Stephen M Smith
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM134110)
- Stephen M Smith
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All animal procedures were approved by V.A. Portland Health Care System Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee in accordance with the U.S. Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The active protocols covering this work are 4254-19 and 4359-20.
Copyright
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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Enhanced excitability of cortical neurons in low-divalent solutions is primarily mediated by altered voltage-dependence of voltage-gated sodium channels
eLife 10:e67914.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.67914
