Electrophysiological Excitability and Parallel Fiber Synaptic Properties of Zebrin-Positive and -Negative Purkinje Cells in Lobule VIII of the Mouse Cerebellar Slice

Heterogeneous populations of cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs) are arranged into separate longitudinal stripes, which have different topographic afferent and efferent axonal connections presumably involved in different functions, and also show different electrophysiological properties in firing pattern and synaptic plasticity. However, whether the differences in molecular expression that define heterogeneous PC populations affect their electrophysiological properties has not been much clarified. Since the expression pattern of many of such molecules, including glutamate transporter EAAT4, replicates that of aldolase C or zebrin II, we recorded from PCs of different “zebrin types” (zebrin-positive = aldolase C-positive = Z+; and Z−) in identified neighboring stripes in vermal lobule VIII, in which Z+ and Z− stripes occupy similar widths, in the Aldoc-Venus mouse cerebellar slice preparation. Regarding basic cellular electrophysiological properties, no significant differences were observed in input resistance or in occurrence probability of types of firing patterns between Z+ and Z− PCs. However, the firing frequency of the tonic firing type was higher in Z− PCs than in Z+ PCs. In the case of parallel fiber (PF)-PC synaptic transmission, no significant differences were observed between Z+ and Z− PCs in interval dependency of paired pulse facilitation or in time course of synaptic current measured without or with the blocker of glutamate receptor desensitization. These results indicate that different expression levels of the molecules that are associated with the zebrin type may affect the intrinsic firing property of PCs but not directly affect the basic electrophysiological properties of PF-PC synaptic transmission significantly in lobule VIII. The results suggest that the zebrin types of PCs in lobule VIII is linked with some intrinsic electrophysiological neuronal characteristics which affect the firing frequency of PCs. However, the results also suggest that the molecular expression differences linked with zebrin types of PCs does not much affect basic electrophysiological properties of PF-PC synaptic transmission in a physiological condition in lobule VIII.