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Science 7 November 1986:
Vol. 234. no. 4777, pp. 738 - 740
DOI: 10.1126/science.3775364
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Articles

Science, Vol 234, Issue 4777, 738-740
Copyright © 1986 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

A low threshold calcium spike mediates firing pattern alterations in pontine reticular neurons

RW Greene, HL Haas, and RW McCarley

Intracellular electrical recordings in an in vitro slice preparation of the brainstem medial pontine reticular formation, a region thought to be important in mediation of desynchronized sleep phenomena, demonstrate a population of neurons that have a calcium-dependent, low threshold spike. This low threshold spike was inactivated at relatively depolarized membrane potential levels and, when this spike was deinactivated, it induced a burst of action potentials. The membrane potential dependence of the spike may underlie changes in action potential firing patterns associated with behavioral state change because the baseline membrane potential in neurons of the medial pontine reticular population depolarizes during passage from waking and slow wave sleep to desynchronized sleep, which is characterized by the absence of burst firing.


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