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- Ericson, Mia, 1970, et al.
(author)
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Acute ethanol exposure elevates muscarinic tone in the septohippocampal system.
- 2009
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In: Journal of neurophysiology. - : American Physiological Society. - 1522-1598 .- 0022-3077. ; 103:1, s. 290-296
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The septohippocampal system has been implicated in the cognitive deficits associated with ethanol consumption, but the cellular basis of ethanol action awaits full elucidation. In the MS/DB, a muscarinic tone, reflective of firing activity of resident cholinergic neurons, regulates that of their non-cholinergic, putatively GABAergic, counterparts. Here we tested the hypothesis that ethanol alters this muscarinic tone. The spontaneous firing activity of cholinergic and non-cholinergic MS/DB neurons were monitored in acute MS/DB slices from C57Bl/6 mice. Exposing the entire slice to ethanol increased firing in both cholinergic and non-cholinergic neurons. However, applying ethanol focally to individual MS/DB neurons increased firing only in cholinergic neurons. The differential outcome suggested different mechanisms of ethanol action on cholinergic and non-cholinergic neurons. Indeed, with bath-perfused ethanol, the muscarinic antagonist methyl scopolamine prevented the increase in firing in non-cholinergic, but not cholinergic, MS/DB neurons. Thus, the effect on non-cholinergic neuronal firing was secondary to ethanol's direct action of acutely increasing muscarinic tone. We propose that the acute ethanol-induced elevation of muscarinic tone in the MS/DB contributes to the altered net flow of neuronal activity in the septohippocampal system that underlies compromised cognitive function.
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