Characterization of the currents underlying rhythmic firing in mammalian dopaminergic neurons
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A mathematical model of midbrain dopamine neurons has been developed in order to understand the mechanisms underlying two types of calcium-dependent firing patterns that these cells exhibit in vitro. The first is the regular, pacemaker-like firing exhibited in a slice preparation, and the second is a burst firing pattern sometimes exhibited in the presence of apamin. Since both types of oscillations are blocked by nifedipine, we have focused on the slow calcium dynamics underlying these firing modes.
The underlying oscillations in membrane potential are best observed when action potentials are blocked by the application of TTX. This converts the regular single-spike firing mode to a slow oscillatory potentials (SOP) and apamin-induced bursting to a slow square-wave oscillation. We hypothesize that the SOP results from the interplay between the L-type calcium current (
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Amini, Behrang. "Characterization of the currents underlying rhythmic firing in mammalian dopaminergic neurons." (1999) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/17247.