Dissociative anesthesia and striatal neuronal electrophysiology

Compared with results obtained in locally anesthetized, paralyzed rats, the dissociative anesthetic ketamine did not alter either the number of spontaneously active striatal neurons or the basal firing rate of striatal neurons; 90% of these cells exhibited the type I striatal neuron waveform. Chloral hydrate anesthesia suppressed both the occurrence and the firing rate of spontaneously active type I cells, but did not alter the activity of type II striatal neurons. Cortical stimulation preferentially activated type II cells in paralyzed rats and in chloral hydrate-anesthetized rats. Thus, under dissociative anesthesia it is possible to study spontaneously active type I striatal neurons. However, a method of activation such as cortical stimulation is necessary to study type II striatal neurons.