Two voltage-dependent currents can explain the functional diversity of embryonic Renshaw cells
Résumé
Spontaneous neuronal activity occurs at the onset of the synaptogenesis in the central Nervous System and plays a major role in shaping developing neural networks. How intrinsic properties of neurons evolve during this critical developmental period remains largely unknown. We studied the Renshaw cells because they participate to the early-synchronized neuronal activity in the embryonic spinal cord. We found that these interneurons are subdivided into several functional clusters at the onset of the synaptogenesis and then display a transitory involution process during which they lose their ability to sustain tonic firing. This complex developmental trajectory results from the synergy between a persistent sodium inward current and a delayed rectifier potassium outward current, which are present in most neurons during development and in the adult. Taken together, our results reveal a core mechanism producing functional hetereogeneity in embryonic neurons and likely shaping the ongoing of early spontaneous neuronal activity.
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