Neurons process information in a highly nonlinear manner, generating oscillations, bursting, and resonance, enhancing responsiveness at preferential frequencies. It has been proposed that slow repolarizing currents could be responsible for both oscillation/burst termination and for high-pass filtering that causes resonance (Hutcheon and Yarom, 2000). However, different mechanisms, including electrotonic effects (Mainen and Sejinowski, 1996), the expression of resurgent currents (Raman and Bean, 1997), and network feedback, may also be important. In this study we report theta-frequency (3–12 Hz) bursting and resonance in rat cerebellar granule cells and show that these neurons express a previously unidentified slow repolarizing K⁺ current (I_K-slow). Our experimental and modeling results indicate that I_K-slow was necessary for both bursting and resonance. A persistent (and potentially a resurgent) Na⁺ current exerted complex amplifying actions on bursting and resonance, whereas electrotonic effects were excluded by the compact structure of the granule cell. Theta-frequency bursting and resonance in granule cells may play an important role in determining synchronization, rhythmicity, and learning in the cerebellum.

1. Current‐clamp recordings were made in whole‐cell patch‐clamp configuration from ninety‐one granule cells in parasagittal cerebellar slices obtained from 21‐ to 31‐day‐old rats. Recordings were performed at 30 degrees C. 2. Resting membrane potential was ‐58 +/‐ 6 mV (n = 43). The membrane voltage response to step current injection showed inward rectification consistent with increasing input resistance during membrane depolarization. Over ‐35 +/‐ 7 mV (n = 14) repetitive firing with little or no adaptation was activated. Spike frequency increased nearly linearly with injected current. 3. Unitary EPSPs obtained by stimulating the mossy fibre bundle had an amplitude of 11.4 +/‐ 2.1 mV (n = 22, holding potential = ‐75 mV). Synchronous activation of greater than one to two mossy fibres was needed to elicit action potentials. Antidromic stimulation elicited antidromic spikes and also EPSPs, presumably through a mossy fibre ‘axon reflex’. 4. EPSPs were brought about by NMDA and non‐NMDA receptor activation, accounting for about 70 and 30%, respectively, of peak amplitude at the holding potential of ‐70 mV. The EPSP decay conformed to passive membrane discharge after blocking the NMDA receptors. 5. No appreciable correlation was found between the time‐to‐peak and decay time constant of the EPSPs, consistent with the compact electrotonic structure of these neurons. 6. During membrane depolarization EPSP amplitude increased transiently, due to both a voltage‐dependent increase of the NMDA component and inward rectification. In addition, EPSPs slowed down due to a slowdown of the NMDA component. 7. Temporal summation during high‐frequency stimulation was sustained by NMDA receptors, whose contribution to depolarization tended to prevail over that of non‐NMDA receptors during the trains. A block of the NMDA receptors resulted in reduced depolarization and output spike frequency. 8. This study, as well as extending previous knowledge to the intracellular level in vivo, provides evidence for a primary role of NMDA receptors in determining mossy fibre excitation of granule cells. It is suggested that the marked voltage dependence of the EPSP time course, which was mainly caused by voltage dependence in NMDA conductance, promotes the NMDA receptor‐dependent enhancement of granule cell coding observed during repetitive mossy fibre activity.

Synaptic activity can induce persistent modifications in the way a neuron reacts to subsequent inputs by changing either synaptic efficacy or intrinsic excitability. After high-frequency synaptic stimulation, long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic efficacy is commonly observed at hippocampal synapses (Bliss and Collingridge, 1993), and potentiation of intrinsic excitability has recently been reported in cerebellar deep nuclear neurons (Aizenmann and Linden, 2000). However, the potential coexistence of these two aspects of plasticity remained unclear. In this paper we have investigated the effect of high-frequency stimulation on synaptic transmission and intrinsic excitability at the mossy fiber–granule cell relay of the cerebellum. High-frequency stimulation, in addition to increasing synaptic conductance (D'Angelo et al., 1999), increased granule cell input resistance and decreased spike threshold. These changes depended on postsynaptic depolarization and NMDA receptor activation and were prevented by inhibitory synaptic activity. Potentiation of intrinsic excitability was induced by relatively weaker inputs than potentiation of synaptic efficacy, whereas with stronger inputs the two aspect of potentiation combined to enhance EPSPs and spike generation. Potentiation of intrinsic excitability may extend the computational capability of the cerebellar mossy fiber–granule cell relay.

D'Angelo, Egidio, Paola Rossi, Simona Armano, and Vanni Taglietti. Evidence for NMDA and mGlu receptor-dependent long-term potentiation of mossy fiber–granule cell transmission in rat cerebellum. J. Neurophysiol. 81: 277–287, 1999. Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a form of synaptic plasticity that can be revealed at numerous hippocampal and neocortical synapses following high-frequency activation of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. However, it was not known whether LTP could be induced at the mossy fiber–granule cell relay of cerebellum. This is a particularly interesting issue because theories of the cerebellum do not consider or even explicitly negate the existence of mossy fiber–granule cell synaptic plasticity. Here we show that high-frequency mossy fiber stimulation paired with granule cell membrane depolarization (−40 mV) leads to LTP of granule cell excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs). Pairing with a relatively hyperpolarized potential (−60 mV) or in the presence of NMDA receptor blockers [5-amino-d-phosphonovaleric acid (APV) and 7-chloro-kynurenic acid (7-Cl-Kyn)] prevented LTP, suggesting that the induction process involves a voltage-dependent NMDA receptor activation. Metabotropic glutamate receptors were also involved because blocking them with (+)-α-methyl-4-carboxyphenyl-glycine (MCPG) prevented potentiation. At the cytoplasmic level, EPSC potentiation required a Ca²⁺ increase and protein kinase C (PKC) activation. Potentiation was expressed through an increase in both the NMDA and non-NMDA receptor-mediated current and by an NMDA current slowdown, suggesting that complex mechanisms control synaptic efficacy during LTP. LTP at the mossy fiber–granule cell synapse provides the cerebellar network with a large reservoir for memory storage, which may be needed to optimize pattern recognition and, ultimately, cerebellar learning and computation.

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a synaptic change supposed to provide the cellular basis for learning and memory in brain neuronal circuits. Although specific LTP expression mechanisms could be critical to determine the dynamics of repetitive neurotransmission, this important issue remained largely unexplored. In this paper, we have performed whole cell patch-clamp recordings of mossy fiber–granule cell LTP in acute rat cerebellar slices and studied its computational implications with a mathematical model. During LTP, stimulation with short impulse trains at 100 Hz revealed earlier initiation of granule cell spike bursts and a smaller nonsignificant spike frequency increase. In voltage-clamp recordings, short AMPA excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC) trains showed short-term facilitation and depression and a sustained component probably generated by spillover. During LTP, facilitation disappeared, depression accelerated, and the sustained current increased. The N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) current also increased. In agreement with a presynaptic expression caused by increased release probability, similar changes were observed by raising extracellular [Ca²⁺]. A mathematical model of mossy fiber–granule cell neurotransmission showed that increasing release probability efficiently modulated the first-spike delay. Glutamate spillover, by causing tonic NMDA and AMPA receptor activation, accelerated excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) temporal summation and maintained a sustained spike discharge. The effect of increasing neurotransmitter release could not be replicated by increasing receptor conductance, which, like postsynaptic manipulations enhancing intrinsic excitability, proved very effective in raising granule cell output frequency. Independent regulation of spike burst initiation and frequency during LTP may provide mechanisms for temporal recoding and gain control of afferent signals at the input stage of cerebellar cortex.