Synaptic currents evoked in Purkinje cells by stimulating individual granule cells

Each cerebellar Purkinje cell receives input from about 160,000 glutamatergic granule cells. In anatomically intact preparations this input has hitherto been studied only as a compound synaptic potential or current. Presented here are simultaneous recordings in cerebellar slices of synaptically connected granule cell-Purkinje cell pairs. The mean amplitude of the excitatory synaptic currents evoked by stimulation of individual granule cells ranged from 2 to 60 pA, whereas the great majority of the spontaneous glutamatergic currents in Purkinje cells in the presence of tetrodotoxin were < 40 pA. In several cases, stimulation of a single granule cell evoked a disynaptic inhibitory current. It is estimated that on the order of 50 simultaneously active granule cells are sufficient to excite a Purkinje cell.