ALX 1393 INHIBITS SPONTANEOUS NETWORK ACTIVITY BY INDUCING GLYCINERGIC TONIC CURRENTS IN THE SPINAL VENTRAL HORN

作者：Eckle V S^*; Antkowiak B

来源：Neuroscience, 2013, 253: 165-171.

DOI：10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.08.042

• glycine receptor
• spinal cord
• ventral horn
• organotypic culture
• ALX 1393
• glycine transporter type 2

Background: Strychnine-sensitive glycine receptors are activated by glycine and facilitate chloride influx into neurons. Glycinergic transmission might be either mediated by synaptic or extrasynaptic glycine receptors. While phasic neurotransmission is provided by a synaptic pathway, activation of extrasynaptic glycine receptors induces tonic inhibition. The glycine transporter 2 (GlyT2) regulates the uptake of glycine into presynaptic boutons. It is not determined yet, whether inhibition of GlyT2 by ALX 1393 can produce inhibition of spinal motoric networks and, whether phasic or tonic glycinergic inhibition is mostly enhanced. %26lt;br%26gt;Methods: We investigated the effect of ALX 1393 on spontaneous action potential firing activity by extracellular recordings in the ventral horn area of organotypic spinal cultures. Additionally, using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique, we defined the influence of GlyT2 inhibition on tonic and phasic glycinergic transmission in commissural interneurons of the ventral horn. %26lt;br%26gt;Results: GlyT2 inhibition by ALX 1393 potently reduced neuronal action potential activity in a concentration-dependent manner (n = 211). The half maximal effect of ALX 1393 was observed at 100 31 nM. Moreover, 88.3 +/- 2.6% of the action potential activity was suppressed at 1 mu M. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings unveiled that ALX 1393 (200 nM) induced a tonic current (-45.7 +/- 11.6 pA, n = 5) that was significantly reversed by application of the competitive glycine receptor antagonist strychnine. Contrastingly, phasic glycinergic transmission was not augmented by GlyT2 inhibition (charge transferred per time period for control conditions: 1.1 +/- 0.1 pC, n = 7, for ALX 1393: 0.9 +/- 0.2 pC, n = 7, p %26gt; 0.05). %26lt;br%26gt;Conclusion: GlyT2 inhibition induced glycinergic tonic currents, which might be the underlying mechanism for the observed suppression of spontaneous action potential activity by ALX 1393 in the spinal ventral horn. Silencing neuronal action potential activity by blocking.GlyT2 might be a novel principle to inhibit locomotor circuits in the ventral horn area and to induce muscle relaxation.

• 出版日期2013-12-3