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J Physiol Volume 518, Number 1, 81-95, July 1, 1999
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The Journal of Physiology (1999), 518.1, pp. 81-95
© Copyright 1999 The Physiological Society

Neurotrophin-3 potentiates excitatory GABAergic synaptic transmission in cultured developing hypothalamic neurones of the rat

Xiao-Bing Gao and A. N. van den Pol

Department of Neurosurgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA


Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) supports the survival and differentiation of neurones in the central and peripheral nervous systems through a number of mechanisms that occur in a matter of hours or days. NT-3 may also have a more rapid mode of action that influences synaptic activity in mature neurones. In the present study, the effect of NT-3 on developing GABAergic synapses was investigated in 3- to 7-day-old cultures of rat hypothalamic neurones with whole-cell patch-clamp recording.


NT-3 induced a substantial dose-dependent potentiation of the frequency of spontaneous postsynaptic currents (sPSCs; 160 %) in developing neurones during a period when GABA evoked inward (depolarizing) current, as determined with gramicidin-perforated patch recordings. The NT-3 effect was long lasting; continued enhancement was found > 30 min after NT-3 wash-out. NT-3 evoked a substantial 202 % increase in total GABA-mediated inward current, measured as the time-current integral. Action potential frequency was also increased by NT-3 (to 220 %).


The frequency of GABA-mediated miniature postsynaptic currents in developing neurones in the presence of tetrodotoxin was potentiated (to 140 %) by NT-3 with no change in the mean amplitude, suggesting a presynaptic locus of the effect.


In striking contrast to immature neurones, when more mature neurones were studied, NT-3 did not enhance the frequency of GABA-mediated spontaneous postsynaptic currents (sPSCs), but instead evoked a slight (16 %) decrease. The frequency of miniature post-synaptic currents was also slightly decreased (16 %) by the NT-3, with no change in amplitude. These results were recorded during a later period of neuronal maturity when GABA would evoke outward (hyperpolarizing) currents. NT-3 had no effect on the mean amplitude of GABA-evoked postsynaptic currents in either developing or mature neurones.


Intracellular application of K252a, a non-selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor, did not block the NT-3 effect postsynaptically. In contrast, bath application of K252a prevented the enhancement of sPSCs by NT-3, consistent with NT-3 acting through presynaptic induction of tyrosine kinase. Decreasing extracellular calcium with BAPTA or inhibiting calcium channels with Cd2+ blocked the augmentation of sPSC frequency by NT-3, suggesting that an increase of calcium entry may be required for the facilitation of NT-3.


Together, our results suggest NT-3 enhances GABA release during the developmental period when GABA is depolarizing and calcium elevating, but not later when GABA is inhibitory, suggesting that one mechanism through which NT-3 may influence neuronal development is via presynaptic potentiation of GABA excitation.


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