Persistent sodium current properties in hippocampal CM pyramidal neurons of young and adult rats

Persistent tetrodotoxin-sensitive sodium current (I-NaP) Plays an important role in cellular and neuronal network excitability in physiological conditions and under different pathological circumstances. However, developmental changes in I-NaP properties remain largely unclear. In the present study using whole cell patch clamp technique we evaluated I-NaP Properties in CA1 hippocampal pyramidal neurons isolated from young (postnatal day (P) 12-16) and adult (P60-75) rats. We show that the I-NaP density is substantially larger in the adult group. Although I-NaP inactivation characteristics were found to be similar in both groups, voltage dependence of I-NaP activation is shifted to more negative membrane potentials (young: the basal membrane sodium conductivity in the mature hippocampus. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.