Chonnam Med J.  2006 Aug;42(2):66-70.

Effects of Ginkgolide B on the Neuronal Activity of Medial Vestibular Nuclear Neurons

• Lee NR
• Jang S
• Jang MJ
• Jeong HS
• Kim YS
• Park JS

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effects of ginkgolide B on the spontaneous activity of medial vestibular nuclear neurons of the rat. Sprague-Dawley rats aged 14 to 16 days were anesthetized with ether and decapitated. After enzymatic digestion, the brain stem portion of medial vestibular nuclear neuron was obtained by micropunching. The dissociated neurons were transferred into a recording chamber mounted on an inverted microscope and spontaneous action potentials were recorded by standard patch-clamp techniques. Sixteen medial vestibular nuclear neurons (80%) revealed excitatory responses to ginkgolide B, and 4 neurons (20%) did not respond to ginkgolide B. The spike frequency and resting membrane potential of these cells were increased by ginkgolide B. The amplitude of afterhyperpolarization was decreased by ginkgolide B. The spike width was not changed by ginkgolide B. These experimental results show that ginkgolide B increases the neuronal activity of the medial vestibular nuclear neurons by altering the resting membrane potential and afterhyperpolarization.

Keyword

Medial vestibular nuclear neurons; Action Potential; Ginkgolide B

MeSH Terms

Action Potentials
Animals
Brain Stem
Digestion
Ether
Membrane Potentials
Neurons*
Patch-Clamp Techniques
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Ether