The firing characteristics of deep dorsal horn neurons following acute spinal transection during administration of agonists for 5-HT1B/1D and NMDA receptors

Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in a loss of serotonin (5-HT) to the spinal cord and a loss of inhibition to deep dorsal horn (DDH) neurons, which produces an exaggerated excitatory drive to motoneurons. The mechanism of this excitatory drive could involve the DDH neurons triggering long excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in motoneurons, which may ultimately drive muscle spasms. Modifying the activity of DDH neurons with drugs such as NMDA or the 5-HT_1B/1D receptor agonist zolmitriptan could have a large effect on motoneuron activity and, therefore, on muscle spasms. In this study, we characterize the firing properties of DDH neurons following acute spinal transection in adult mice during administration of zolmitriptan and NMDA, using the in vitro sacral cord preparation and extracellular electrophysiology. DDH neurons can be categorized into three major types with distinct evoked and spontaneous firing characteristics: burst (bursting), simple (single-spiking), and tonic (spontaneously tonic-firing) neurons. The burst neurons likely contribute to muscle spasm mechanisms due to their bursting behavior. Only the burst neurons show significant changes in their firing characteristics during zolmitriptan and NMDA administration. Zolmitriptan suppresses the burst neurons by reducing their evoked spikes, burst duration, and spontaneous firing rate. Conversely, NMDA facilitates them by enhancing their burst duration and spontaneous firing rate. These results suggest that zolmitriptan may exert its anti-spastic effect on the burst neurons via activation of 5-HT_1B/1D receptors, whereas activation of NMDA receptors may facilitate the burst neurons in contributing to muscle spasm mechanisms following SCI.

from Physiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/29FjeWL
via IFTTT