APStracts 2:0327N, 1995.

CELLULAR SHORT TERM MEMORY FROM A SLOW POTASSIUM CONDUCTANCE. Turrigiano, Gina G., Eve Marder, L.F. Abbott. Department of Biology and Volen Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02254, U.S.A.

APStracts 2:0327N, 1995.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
1. We use the dynamic clamp to add the slowly inactivating and slowly recovering K+ conductance Kv1.3 to cultured stomatogastric ganglion (STG) neurons. 2. Introduction of Kv1.3 produced long delays to firing during depolarization. Additionally, the slow recovery from inactivation produced an increase in neuronal excitability following a depolarizing input that outlasted the input by many seconds. Finally, when introduced into bursting neurons, Kv1.3 produced a long-lasting depolarization-induced switch between tonic and burst firing. 3. These data demonstrate that the slow kinetics of a + conductance can produce a form of cellular short term memory that is independent of any changes in synaptic efficacy.

Received 21 August 1995; accepted in final form 31 October 1995.
APS Manuscript Number J547-5.
Article publication pending J. Neurophysiol.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 30 November 95