Epilepsy Research 2003-03-01

Modulation of epileptiform burst frequency by the metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype mGluR3.

Paul M Lea, John M Sarvey

Index: Epilepsy Res. 53(3) , 207-15, (2003)

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Abstract

Spontaneous epileptiform burst activity occurs in acute hippocampal slice dentate granule cells perfused with 10mM potassium and 0.5mM calcium [J. Neurophys. 68 (1992) 2016]. We report that activation of the group II metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 3 (mGluR3) induces an increase in spontaneous burst duration, whereas inhibition of mGluR3 reversibly reduces spontaneous burst frequency. Neither activation, nor inhibition, of group II mGluR had any effects on spontaneous negative dc shifts, or the number of spikes per burst, as compared to control. We conclude that mGluR3 can modulate high potassium, low calcium-induced spontaneous epileptiform burst activity in acute rat hippocampal slice dentate granule cells.