Zinc reduces low-threshold Ca2+ currents of rat thalamic relay neurons

Whole-cell voltage-clamping of thalamic relay neurons was used to examine the possibility of a Zn(2+)-mediated reduction of the low-threshold transient Ca(2+) current (I(T)) of a central element in thalamocortical oscillations. We found that Zn(2+) reversibly decreased I(T) in a concentration-depend...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNeuroscience research Vol. 47; no. 2; pp. 261 - 265
Main Authors Noh, Ji-Hyun, Chung, Jun-Mo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ireland 01.10.2003
Subjects
Animals
Calcium Channel Blockers - pharmacology
Calcium Channels - physiology
Neurons - drug effects
Neurons - physiology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Thalamus - drug effects
Thalamus - physiology
Zinc - pharmacology
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Summary:Whole-cell voltage-clamping of thalamic relay neurons was used to examine the possibility of a Zn(2+)-mediated reduction of the low-threshold transient Ca(2+) current (I(T)) of a central element in thalamocortical oscillations. We found that Zn(2+) reversibly decreased I(T) in a concentration-dependent manner (IC(50)=55 microM), mainly by reducing the number of I(T) channels available for activation. Zn(2+) did not affect the reaction kinetics, but did affect the voltage-dependence of I(T) channel gating. However, the apparent alterations in gating properties were not enough to account for the huge I(T) reduction.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0168-0102
DOI:10.1016/s0168-0102(03)00198-6