Cyclodextrin Alters GABAergic Input to CA1 Pyramidal Cells in Wild-Type But Not in NPC1-Deficient Mice

Niemann–Pick type C1 disease (NPC1) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by mutations in the NPC1 gene. Actual, no causative treatment for NPC1 is available, although some drugs have been proven to be beneficial to patients, for example, 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (CDX). In this study, we used the BALB/c_Nctr-Npc1m1N/-J mouse strain to study the effect of CDX, which is described to prolong the life span and to alleviate the pathogenic phenotype. By means of patch clamp recordings, we measured inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) of CA1 pyramidal cells of CDX-treated and -untreated animals to elucidate the influence of CDX on the synaptic transmission. Surprisingly, CDX induced a significantly higher GABAergic IPSC frequency in wild-type mice than in NPC1(−/−) mice. Although the IPSCs were mainly GABAergic, we observed a significant reduction of the IPSC frequency in the presence of the glycine receptor antagonist strychnine. The effect of strychnine did not differ in untreated and treated animals, indicating that the effect of CDX was most likely not based on an interaction with glycinergic transmission machinery. However, the unexpected effect of CDX on the GABAergic synaptic transmission is of special interest as a disturbance plays, for example, a crucial role in epilepsy and, moreover, as CDX is currently under investigation as a treatment for NPC1 in humans.