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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
Primary Culture of Hippocampal Neurons from P0 Newborn Rats
Published on: September 29, 2008
[Changes of ion channel in rat hippocampal neurons during primary culture]
Sheng Yang1, Zhen-wei Liu, Qin Wan
1Beijing Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Beijing 100850, China.
Aim And Methods:
Whole-cell recording technique was used to observe the changes of voltage-dependent ion channels and NMDA receptor currents of rat hippocampal neurons during primary culture.
Results:
There was no significant difference of voltage-dependent Na+ current (I(Na)) at 7 d, 14 d and 21 d in culture. It's the same for delayed rectifier K+ current (Ik). However, voltage-dependent Ca2+ current (I(Ca)) and its density were continuously and markedly increased. Further studies showed that the increase of I(Ca) was resulted from the increase of L-type voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels (L-VDCC). NMDA receptor current was also significantly increased with time of culture.
Conclusion:
Ca2+ influx through VDCC and NMIDA receptor is the fatal factor in the aging and death of hippocampal neurons.
