STRYCHNINE-SENSITIVE GLYCINE RESPONSES OF NEONATAL RAT HIPPOCAMPAL-NEURONS

1. Intracellular recordings employing current and voltage clamp techniques were used to study the effects of glycine on rat CA3 hippocampal neurones during the first 3 weeks of postnatal (P) life. 2. Glycine (0.3-1 mM) depolarized neurones from rats less than 4 days old (P4). Neurones from older neonates (P5-P7) were hyperpolarized by glycine, whereas adult neurones were unaffected. 3. Both depolarizing and hyperpolarizing responses were associated with large conductance increases; they reversed polarity at a potential which changed with the extracellular chloride concentration. The responses persisted in tetrodotoxin (1-mu-M) or in a solution with a much reduced calcium concentration. 4. Strychnine (1-mu-M) but not bicuculline (10-50-mu-M) antagonized the effects of glycine. The action of strychnine was apparently competitive with a dissociation constant of 350 nM. 5. In voltage clamp experiments, glycine elicited a non-desensitizing outward current at -60 mV. When a maximal concentration of glycine was applied at the same time as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the conductance increase induced by the two agonists was additive, suggesting the activation of different populations of channels. 6. Concentrations of glycine lower than 100-mu-M did not affect membrane potential. However, at 30-50-mu-M glycine increased the frequency of spontaneous GABA-mediated synaptic responses; this action was not blocked by strychnine. 7. It is concluded that during the first 2 weeks of life glycine acts at strychnine-sensitive receptors to open chloride channels.