Features of Action Potentials from Identified Thalamic Nuclei in Anesthetized Patients

Our objective was to describe the electrophysiological properties of the extracellular action potential (AP) picked up through microelectrode recordings (MERs). Five patients were operated under general anesthesia for centromedian deep brain stimulation (DBS). APs from the same cell were pooled to obtain a mean AP (mAP). The amplitudes and durations for all 2/3 phases were computed from the mAP, together with the maximum (dV(max)) and minimum (dV(min)) values of the first derivative, as well as the slopes of different phases during repolarization. The mAPs are denominated according to the phase polarity (P/N for positive/negative). We obtained a total of 1109 mAPs, most of the positive (98.47%) and triphasic (93.69%) with a small P/N deflection (V(phase)(1)) before depolarization. The percentage of the different types of mAPs was different for the nuclei addressed. The relationship between dV(max) and the depolarizing phase is specific. The descending phase of the first derivative identified different phases during the repolarizing period. We observed a high correlation between V(phase)(1) and the amplitudes of either depolarization or repolarization phases. Human thalamic nuclei differ in their electrophysiological properties of APs, even under general anesthesia. Capacitive current, which is probably responsible for V(phase)(1), is very common in thalamic APs. Moreover, subtle differences during repolarization are neuron-specific.