Hypoxia-activated Ca2+ currents in pacemaker neurones of rat rostral ventrolateral medulla in vitro

We examined the effects of brief periods of hypoxia or application of cyanide on the discharge and membrane properties of medullary pacemaker neurones in slices of the rostral ventrolateral reticular nucleus (RVL) of the medulla oblongata of rats. Stable intracellular recordings were obtained from seventy-nine neurones within the RVL which exhibited spontaneous rhythmic discharge in the absence of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs). The membrane potential cycles of these neurones could be reset with an evoked spike without eliciting EPSPs or inhibitory postsynaptic potentials and hence met criteria of RVL pacemaker neurones. Hypoxia, produced by reducing O2 from 95 to 20% for 40 s or exposure to cyanide (30-300 microM for 40 s), reversibly increased neuronal discharge 1.6-fold (20% O2) or 2.6-fold (300 microM cyanide), respectively, in association with membrane depolarization and a significant fall in membrane resistance. The membrane responses to hypoxia and cyanide were observed in the presence of tetrodotoxin (TTX) at a concentration (10 microM) which eliminated spontaneous spikes or spikes evoked by intracellular depolarization. When recorded at a holding potential of -70 mV by single-electrode voltage clamp, hypoxia or cyanide (300 microM) elicited inward currents of 0.44 +/- 0.06 and 0.58 +/- 0.08 nA, respectively, which are attenuated by reducing the concentration of extracellular Ca2+ ions, and abolished by 2 mM CoCl2 and 100 microM NiCl2, but not affected by 50 microM CdCl2, replacement of 83% extracellular Na+, or adenosine deaminase (2U ml-1). We conclude that hypoxia and cyanide directly excite RVL pacemaker neurones in vitro by a common mechanism: activation of Ca2+ channel conductance.