NEURONS DISSOCIATED FROM NEOCORTEX FIRE WITH BURST AND REGULAR TRAINSOF SPIKES

Neurons acutely dissociated from neocortex slices of 14-16-day-old rat s were patch-clamped in physiological conditions. Different pyramidal cells, spontaneously or in response to current steps, generate regular spiking and intrinsically bursting behaviour during long periods of t ime. We show that typical firing properties recorded in somatosensory neocortex Slices are preserved in dissociated pyramidal neurons origin ating from the slices themselves, thus, providing a way for the relate d characterization of biophysical properties of currents in identified subtypes of pyramidal neurons.