Rapid adaptation to elevated extracellular potassium in the pyloric circuit of the crab, <i>Cancer borealis</i>
Lily S He, Mara C.P. Rue, Ekaterina Morozova, Daniel J. Powell, Eric J. James, Manaswini Kar, Eve Marder
Abstract
Solutions with elevated extracellular potassium are commonly used as a depolarizing stimulus. We studied the effects of high potassium concentration ([K + ]) on the pyloric circuit of the crab stomatogastric ganglion. A 2.5-fold increase in extracellular [K + ] caused a transient loss of activity that was not due to depolarization block, followed by a rapid increase in excitability and recovery of spiking within minutes. This suggests that changing extracellular potassium can have complex and nonstationary effects on neuronal circuits.
Topics & Concepts
Stomatogastric ganglionExtracellularDepolarizationPotassiumChemistryBiophysicsStimulus (psychology)NeuroscienceBiologyInternal medicineBiochemistryMedicinePsychologyCentral pattern generatorRhythmPsychotherapistOrganic chemistryNeurobiology and Insect Physiology ResearchLipid Membrane Structure and BehaviorAdvanced Memory and Neural Computing