Passive electrical membrane properties of rat neostriatal neurons in an in vitro slice preparation

The passive electrical membrane properties of rat neostriatal neurons were studied in in vitro slice preparations. The data are only from neurons having stable resting membrane potentials of more than 50 mV and able to generate action potentials of amplitudes greater than 70 mV evoked by local or intracellular stimulation. All neurons measured for current-voltage relationship (n = 52) showed non-linearity of the input resistance in the hyperpolarizing direction. The mean input resistance at the resting membrane potential was 16.6 M omega. Depolarizing postsynaptic potentials evoked by local stimulation were decreased both in their amplitude and half-decay time by inward current injections exceeding more than 1 nA due to the strong membrane rectification at these levels of hyperpolarization. The mean membrane time constant (tau 0) was 5.3 ms, as measured from the semilogarithmic plots of transmembrane potential shift produced by small hyperpolarizing current pulses. In some neurons, the equalizing term (tau 1) could be determined as well and had a mean value of 1.0 ms. Measurement of (tau 0) using the strength-latency relation showed a similar value (5.0 ms) to that measured from the voltage transients. Intracellular labeling of the recorded neurons with horseradish peroxidase suggested that the recordings were obtained from medium spiny neurons.