THE REGIONAL VULNERABILITY TO BLOCKADE OF ACTION-POTENTIALS IN ORGANOTYPIC HIPPOCAMPAL CULTURE

We investigated how blockade of spontaneous action potentials influenc ed the synaptogenesis by measuring the field population spike using hi ppocampal organotypic cultures. Although respective blockade of inhibi tory and excitatory neurotransmission by picrotoxin and CNQX did not s ignificantly induce cell death in all hippocampal area, sodium channel blocking drugs (tetrodotoxin or lidocaine) caused specific and severe damage and affected the formation of functional synapse in CA1 and th e entorhinal cortex but not in CA3. It is suggested that the spontaneo us action potentials would play a critical role during synaptogenesis. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.