Figure 2

Effect of DAF and NaCN on neuronal excitability and plateau depolarization in cortical neurons. Rat primary cortical neurons were cultured for 14-18 days before electrophysiological recording. (a) Effect of DAF and NaCN on action potential discharge in cortical neurons. Repetitive firing was evoked by long depolarization pulse (130 pA, 1 second). (b) Spike frequencies induced by injecting different depolarization currents. Spike frequency is defined as the number of spikes per sec. (c) Neural network activity reflected by plateau depolarization. The representative traces show AMPA- and NMDA-mediated spontaneous plateau potential and burst firing. Insert shows spontaneous plateau potential and burst firing at a much higher time resolution. (d) Effects of DAF and NaCN on plateau depolarization. The typical recordings showing NaCN induced a remarkable reduction in spontaneous plateau potential and burst firing. (e) The spontaneous plateau depolarization was monitored over a three minute period. The data is presented as mean ± SEM. The number of cells recorded is indicated in parentheses and columns (b and e). (one-way ANOVA followed by Newman-Keuls test. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01).