Stimulation induced transitions in spontaneous firing rates in cultured neuronal networks also occur in the presence of synaptic plasticity blocker KN93

Van der Heiden, L., Vajda, I., Van Pelt, J., and Van Ooyen, A. (2011). In: Wang, R., and Gu, F., eds. Advances in Cognitive Neurodynamics (II). Springer, pp. 151-155. [Full text: PDF]

Abstract

Spontaneous firing activity in dissociated rat cortical tissue cultured in vitro shows highly stable firing rates over periods of hours. Recently, it was shown that a short period of low-frequency electrical stimulation induces significant and lasting changes in these firing rates. Now, it is shown that these changes also occur in the presence of the synaptic plasticity blocker KN93 in the culture medium. Apparently, the changes in firing rates after a short period of low-frequency stimulation do not depend on CaMK-II mediated synaptic plasticity.