Connexin hemichannels contribute to spontaneous electrical activity in the human fetal cortex

Significance Young neurons require occasional bursts of action-potential firing to maintain intracellular processes, to drive gene expression, to indicate their presence in a new location, and to attract and keep synaptic contacts. While in the adult cortex electrical activity is driven by synaptic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2014-09, Vol.111 (37), p.E3919-E3928
Main Authors: Moore, Anna R, Zhou, Wen-Liang, Sirois, Carissa L, Belinsky, Glenn S, Zecevic, Nada, Antic, Srdjan D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Action Potentials - drug effects
Action Potentials - physiology
Biological Sciences
Brain
Calcium - pharmacology
Cells
Cerebral Cortex - drug effects
Cerebral Cortex - embryology
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Connexins - genetics
Connexins - metabolism
Electrophysiological Phenomena - drug effects
Extracellular Space - metabolism
Female
Fetus - drug effects
Fetus - physiology
Gap Junctions - drug effects
Gap Junctions - physiology
Gene expression
Gestational Age
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Lanthanum - pharmacology
Male
Neurons
Neurons - drug effects
Neurons - physiology
PNAS Plus
Synapses - drug effects
Synapses - physiology
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Summary:Significance Young neurons require occasional bursts of action-potential firing to maintain intracellular processes, to drive gene expression, to indicate their presence in a new location, and to attract and keep synaptic contacts. While in the adult cortex electrical activity is driven by synaptic inputs, during early cortical development these synaptic inputs are largely absent. In the absence of synaptic connections and sensory experience, human neurons use an energetically favorable membrane mechanism for generating and maintaining electrical activity: connexin hemichannels. The spontaneous flickering of connexin hemichannels produces depolarizing events (often crowned with bursts of action potentials) to help establish early electrical communication in young subplate neurons. This type of activity dominates the human cortical wall 5 months before birth.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1405253111