Periaxonal K+ regulation in the small squid Alloteuthis. Studies on isolated and in situ axons

Synaptic plasticity in cephalopods; more than just learning and memory?

The outstanding behavioural capacity of cephalopods is underpinned by a highly sophisticated nervous system anatomy and neural mechanisms that often differ significantly from similarly complex systems in vertebrates and insects. Cephalopods exhibit considerable behavioural flexibility and adaptability, and it might be expected that this should be supported by evident cellular and synaptic plasticity. Here, we review what little is known of the cellular mechanisms that underlie plasticity in cephalopods, particularly from the point of view of synaptic function. We conclude that cephalopods utilise short-, medium-, and long-term plasticity mechanisms that are superficially similar to those so far described in vertebrate and insect synapses. These mechanisms, however, often differ significantly from those in other animals at the biophysical level and are deployed not just in the central nervous system, but also to a limited extent in the peripheral nervous system and neuromuscular junctions.

Activity-dependent change in morphology of the glial tubular lattice of the crayfish medial giant nerve fiber

An evaluation of electron micrographs of stimulated nerve fibers used to investigate the effect of action potential generation on the structure-function relationship between axons and its associated glial cells revealed that what was at first thought to be stimulation-induced damage to the glia was, in fact, limited to volume expansion and disaggregation of the glial tubular lattice. All other structures appeared well preserved and otherwise normal. Using a 4-point subjective scale for evaluation by two investigators, 50-Hz stimulation for 2 min was observed to cause a volume expansion and disaggregation of the tubular lattice. Quantitatively, the internal diameter of the stimulated tubular lattice increased 65% above the unstimulated control (50.96 +/- 2.09 nm and 30.81 +/- 0.87 nm, respectively, P < or = 0.001). Stimulation had its greatest effect on tubular lattice volume and organization in the adaxonal glial layer and a decreasing effect as distance from the giant axon increased. These effects are reversible since the tubular lattice diameter and degree of disaggregation preserved 10 min after the cessation of stimulation were not found to be different from their unstimulated paired controls. Axons injected with TEA, a voltage-gated potassium channel blocker, prevented stimulation-induced volume expansion and disaggregation of tubular lattice structure. These results are consistent with an active uptake of K+ with obligated water or, alternatively, hyperosmotic K+ uptake and a fixation-induced increase in water permeation. Either mechanism of K+ uptake would result in tubular lattice volume expansion and disaggregation and suggests that the tubular lattice serves a larger role than a simple trans-glial diffusion pathway.

Ionic currents in isolated and in situ squid Schwann cells

Ionic currents from Schwann cells isolated enzymatically from the giant axons of the squids Loligo forbesi, Loligo vulgaris and Loligo bleekeri were compared with those obtained in situ. Macroscopic and single channel ionic currents were recorded using whole-cell voltage and patch clamp. In the whole-cell configuration, depolarisation from negative holding potentials evoked two voltage-dependent currents, an inward current and a delayed outward current. The outward current resembled an outwardly rectifying K+ current and was activated at -40 mV after a latent period of 5-20 ms following a step depolarisation. The current was reduced by externally applied nifedipine, Co2+ or quinine, was not blocked by addition of apamin or charibdotoxin and was insensitive to externally applied L-glutamate or acetylcholine. The voltage-gated inward current was activated at -40 mV and was identified as an L-type calcium current sensitive to externally applied nifedipine. Schwann cells were impaled in situ in split-open axons and voltage clamped using discontinuous single electrode voltage clamp. Voltage dependent outward currents were recorded that were kinetically identical to those seen in isolated cells and that had similar current-voltage relations. Single channel currents were recorded from excised inside-out patches. A single channel type was observed with a reversal potential close to the equilibrium potential for K+ (E(K)) and was therefore identified as a K+ channel. The channel conductance was 43.6 pS when both internal and external solutions contained 150 mM K+. Activity was weakly dependent on membrane voltage but sensitive to the internal Ca2+ concentration. Activity was insensitive to externally or internally applied L-glutamate or acetylcholine. The results suggest that calcium channels and calcium-activated K+ channels play an important role in the generation of the squid Schwann cell membrane potential, which may be controlled by the resting intracellular Ca2+ level.

K+ accumulation and K+ conductance inactivation during action potential trains in giant axons of the squid Sepioteuthis

1. During action potential trains in giant axons from the squid Sepioteuthis, decline of the peak level of the undershoot potential was observed. The time course of the decline of the undershoot could be fitted with a three-exponential function with time constants of approximately 25, approximately 400 and approximately 7,000 ms, respectively. 2. When the osmolarity of the external solution was doubled by adding glucose (1.2 M), the fast component of undershoot decline, but not the medium and slow components, was significantly reduced. 3. Under voltage clamp in high osmolarity solutions where K+ accumulation was completely removed, repeated depolarizing pulses at 40 Hz (designed to mimic a train of action potentials) elicited K+ currents whose peak value declined. The decline is consistent with inactivation of the K+ conductance (gK). The decline of gK was fitted by a two-exponential function with time constants of approximately 400 and approximately 7,000 ms, respectively. 4. Interventions designed to modify Schwann cell physiology, such as high frequency stimulation (100 Hz, 2 min), externally applied ouabain (100-500 microM), L-glutamate (100 microM), ACh (100 microM), Co2+ (5mM), Ba2+ (2mM), or removal of external Ca2+ by EGTA, had no significant effects on the fast, medium or slow components of undershoot decline. 5. The results suggest that the fast component of undershoot decline represents K+ accumulation in the space between Schwann cell and axolemma. The medium and slow components are the result of axonal gK inactivation. Schwann cells appear to be involved in K+ clearance only to the extent that they provide an efficient physical pathway for the clearance of K+ by extracellular diffusion.

Ultrastructure and permeability of the Schwann cell layer surrounding the giant axon of the squid

The ultrastructure of the Schwann cell layer surrounding the giant axon of the squid Alloteuthis subulata is described, and the permeability of extracellular compartments assessed by exposure to electron-dense tracers. Morphometric analysis is used to deduce the number, size and shape of the Schwann cells, and the routes for ion flux across the Schwann cell layer. Axons (mean diameter 233 microns) were surrounded by a 1-2 microns thick layer of Schwann cells which were approximately 1 micron thick, approximately 70 microns long and approximately 23 microns wide. There were around 62,000 Schwann cells per cm2 axon surface. The outer (abaxonal) surface of the Schwann cells was invaginated, with evidence for a covering of fine Schwann cells processes; the inner (adaxonal) surface of the Schwann cells was less folded. The percentage area occupied by mesaxonal cleft openings to the axon and to the basal lamina was 0.02% and 1.09% respectively. A system of tubules, the glial tubular system, occupied 3.9% of the Schwann cell volume, and opened to both axonal and basal lamina surfaces, with more elaborate lattice-like clusters towards the basal side of the cell. Tubule openings accounted for 0.26% of the surface area facing the axon and 0.37% of the area facing the basal lamina (where there was greater clustering of openings). The electron dense tracers horseradish peroxidase, ionic lanthanum and tannic acid filled mesaxon clefts, glial tubular system and periaxonal space. If ion flux occurred via the mesaxonal clefts, a theoretical series resistance (Rsth) of > 20 omega cm2, would be predicted, whereas if it occurred via the tubular system, the figure would be < 2 omega cm2, closer to physiological estimates. The results presented show that the glial tubular system is likely to be the major route for ion flux into and across the Schwann cell layer, and for clearance of K+ from the periaxonal space during periods of axonal stimulation. The implications for K+ homeostasis in the axonal microenvironment are discussed.

Mechanisms of glutamate activation of axon-to-Schwann cell signaling in the squid

Membrane potentials from Schwann cells associated with giant axons of the small squid (Alloteuthis and Loliguncula) and the large squid (Loligo) were monitored with glass microelectrodes following 100 Hz/15 s axonal stimulation, or the application of 10(-7) M glutamate and ion substitutions, in the presence or absence of 10(-7) M d-tubocurarine. Glutamate or stimulation caused the membrane of the Schwann cell to depolarize to approximately -32 mV. This was rapidly replaced by a transient hyperpolarization to approximately -55 mV; the potential returning to the resting level (-40 mV) in approximately 7 min. In the presence of d-tubocurarine only the initial depolarization was evident. Nominally zero [Na+]o or treatment with 10(-7) M tetrodotoxin (in normal [Na+]o) blocked the stimulation- and glutamate-induced depolarization while low Clo- hyperpolarized the Schwann cell without effect on the glutamate- or stimulation-induced depolarization. Nao+ depletion or pretreatment with tetrodotoxin in normal Nao+ did not affect the development of the Schwann cell hyperpolarization. These results do not support the hypothesis that the glutamate-induced depolarization is the trigger leading to the Schwann cell hyperpolarization. Preliminary experiments to test the possibility that inositol phosphate second messenger and an increase in [Ca2+]i are triggered by glutamate receptor activation showed that nominally 0 Cao2+/75 mM Mgo2+ only slightly reduced the hyperpolarizing response to stimulation or glutamate while intracellular Bapta (20-30 microM) blocked the hyperpolarization but not the depolarization. [3H]Myoinositol incorporation into axon-Schwann cell plasma membranes was high.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The abundance of Aplysia gliagrana depends on Ca2+ and/or Na+ concentrations in sea water

The glial cells surrounding the identified giant nerve cell bodies R2 or LP1 of Aplysia punctata were studied by quantitative electron microscopy. They contain specific, electron-dense but non-osmiophilic membrane-bound granules, approximately 0.3 microns in diameter, called gliagrana. Similar glial granules are more often found in marine than in freshwater molluscs, possibly because they represent a calcium store used to compensate excess Na+ in the extracellular milieu of marine species and to regulate perineuronal calcium concentration. In agreement with this hypothesis, the abundance of gliagrana (= number of glial granules per microns 2) is found to be higher in animals adapted to low Ca2+ artificial sea water than in animals kept in high Ca2+ (or low Na+) conditions. This finding is not observed after 1 week but after 2 weeks of adaptation.

The Desheathed Periphery of Aplysia Giant Neuron. Fine Structure and Measurement of [Ca2+]o Fluctuations with Calcium-selective Microelectrodes

The visceral ganglion of Aplysia was mechanically desheathed after protease softening of the connective tissue to permit the positioning of ion-selective electrodes in the vicinity of the neuronal membrane. The effects of this treatment on satellite glia and neuronal cytology were observed by electron microscopy. The intracellular alterations were not suggestive of serious membrane damage but the cohesion between glial and neuronal membranes was affected-the glial processes appeared to retract from the trophospongium and in some cases the neuronal membrane was completely naked. The external calcium activity [Ca2+]o at the surface of identified giant neuron, R2, was measured using double-barrelled calcium-selective microelectrodes. A decrease of approximately 1 mM in [Ca2+]o could be recorded only during trains of action potentials induced by intracellular depolarizing current injection, and when the electrode was pushed firmly against the neuron surface. A recovery from this decrease in [Ca2+]o could sometimes, but not always, be observed during the phase of induced neuronal activity.

Extracellular K+ in the supraoptic nucleus of the rat during reflex bursting activity by oxytocin neurones

1. We have investigated changes in extracellular potassium concentration [K+]o in the supraoptic nucleus of lactating rats and in particular those that occur during the intense burst of firing by the oxytocin neurones involved in the milk ejection reflex. 2. Double-barrelled K(+)-selective microelectrodes containing a highly selective sensor based on valinomycin were lowered through the exposed cortex towards the supraoptic nucleus (SON) of female rats anaesthetized with urethane. The mean resting [K+]o in the hypothalami of five rats was 2.4 mM, S.D. = 0.3 mM. 3. Where the reference barrel recorded extracellular action potentials from an oxytocin cell, the reflex burst of firing (4 s, typical maximum 50 Hz) was accompanied by a mean increase in [K+]o (delta[K+]o) of 0.22 mM (S.E.M. = 0.02 mM, fifty-seven bursts in eight cells in seven rats). The rise in [K+]o did not begin more than 0.1 s before the onset of the burst, and began to fall from its maximum during the burst. Slow field potentials, indicative of spatial buffering of K+, were undetectable (less than 50 microV). When the electrode was advanced in steps, the amplitudes of both delta[K+]o and the action potential declined steeply to about 10% over a distance of 20 microns: K+ from oxytocin cells appears to be prevented from dispersing freely through the extracellular space of the SON. 4. When the electrode recorded action potentials from a vasopressin cell, delta[K+]o during an oxytocin cell burst was very small: 0.021 mM (S.E.M. = 0.005 mM). At other sites in the SON, where antidromic stimulation evoked a field potential but no action potential, delta[K+]o was 0.047 +/- 0.005 mM. We conclude that the reason oxytocin bursts do not affect vasopressin cells is that [K+]o rises very little around vasopressin cells. A fortiori, since the increases in [K+]o were very small except where action potentials from oxytocin cells were recorded, they can make no significant contribution to synchronizing the onsets of bursts in oxytocin cells that are not contiguous. 5. A standard antidromic stimulation from the pituitary stalk, at 40 Hz for 4 s, which stimulated both oxytocin neurones and vasopressin neurones, caused a delta[K+]o of 0.17-1.8 mM, the variation being mainly from rat to rat. The larger delta[K+]o values were accompanied by slow negative potentials of up to 1.5 mV, there was a gradient in delta[K+]o decreasing towards the pia at the inferior limit of the SON, and there was a slow increase in [K+] in the subarachnoid space.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

The lacunar glial zone at the periphery of Aplysia giant neuron: volume of extracellular space and total calcium content of gliagrana

The relative volume of perineuronal extracellular space, the number of gliagrana and their total calcium content have been measured in Aplysia punctata and A. californica, at the periphery of giant neurons R2 and LP1. After chemical fixation, the extracellular space amounts to 26% of the periganglionic glial zone, but this increases to 36% after quick freezing and freeze-substitution. The glial cytoplasm contains gliagrana, membrane-bound granules approximately 0.3 micron in diameter. The number of gliagrana per micron 2 of section, defined as "abundance", was counted in electron micrographs of chemically fixed tissues. The abundance of gliagrana appears to be directly proportional to the volume of the extracellular space when the values are averaged per individual Aplysia. The total calcium concentration of the gliagrana is measured by X-ray microanalysis on sections of ganglia processed by rapid freezing and freeze-substitution in the presence of oxalic acid: it was found to be very high. An individual granule may contain 100 mM Ca in A. californica and 50 mM in A. punctata but in both species the calcium concentration varies along a wide range as if there were different functional states of the granules with respect to this concentration. The total calcium stored in the specific granules of the glial zone was estimated. It was calculated that should the glial calcium store be entirely diluted in the extracellular space of the glial zone, it would raise the calcium concentration of this space by approximately 1 mM (0.1-2.7 mM). These findings are discussed with regard to the hypothesis of glial cells regulating the perineuronal calcium concentration.

Regulation of transmitter release at the squid giant synapse by presynaptic delayed rectifier potassium current

1. The three-microelectrode voltage clamp technique and pharmacological agents were used to examine the properties and functions of potassium currents in squid giant presynaptic terminals. 2. Outward currents consisted of two components: a slow component which activated over hundreds of milliseconds and was blocked by extracellular application of tetraethylammonium (TEA) ions and a more rapidly activating component which was relatively insensitive to extracellular TEA. 3. The more rapid component was studied in isolation by treating presynaptic terminals with extracellular TEA, as well as tetrodotoxin (to block sodium channel currents) and manganese (to block calcium channel currents). The magnitude of this current component was 1-2 mA cm-2 at 0 mV. Rates of activation and deactivation were voltage dependent and little evidence of inactivation was seen for depolarizations less than several seconds in duration. 4. The reversal potential of the current was -70 to -80 mV in normal saline and became more positive with elevated extracellular potassium concentrations, suggesting that potassium is the primary permeant ion. Accumulation of extracellular potassium appeared to be marked during depolarizations that produced significant activation of the current. 5. Extracellular application of 3,4-diaminopyridine (DAP) blocked the current with an apparent dissociation constant of 7 microM at 0 mV. Intracellular applications of DAP and TEA also were effective in reducing this current. These treatments, but not extracellular TEA application, broadened presynaptic action potentials and increased the magnitude and time-to-peak of postsynaptic currents elicited by the broadened presynaptic action potentials. Postsynaptic currents were a sensitive and linear function of action potential duration; a 30% increase in action potential duration increased postsynaptic current amplitude by 190%. 6. Estimation of the magnitude and time course of the presynaptic calcium current, based on previous measurements of calcium channel gating, indicated that action potential broadening produces a large increase in calcium current magnitude. These calculations predict that a 30% increase in presynaptic action potential duration will increase the peak amplitude of the calcium current by approximately 170% and the total amount of calcium entry by approximately 230%. This implies a linear relationship between transmitter release and calcium entry during an action potential and can be explained by assuming that calcium co-operatively triggers release within intracellular domains that do not overlap.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Evidence that glutamate mediates axon-to-Schwann cell signaling in the squid

High-frequency stimulation (100 Hz) of isolated giant axons of the small squid Alloteuthis subulata and the large squid Loligo forbesi caused the periaxonal Schwann cell resting potential (Em = -40 mV) to hyperpolarize up to 11 mV in direct proportion to train duration and action potential amplitude. In both species, the Schwann cell also hyperpolarized up to 17 mV with the application of L-glutamate (10(-9) to 10(-6) M), in a dose-dependent manner. By contrast, in the presence of 10(-8) M d-tubocurarine (d-TC) to block the cholinergic component of the Schwann cell response, Schwann cells depolarized 8-9 mV during electrical stimulation of the axon or application of L-glutamate. In the presence of 10(-5) M 2-amino-4-phosphonobutyrate (2-APB), the hyperpolarization to glutamate and to axon stimulation was blocked, whereas the cholinergic (carbachol-induced) hyperpolarization was unaffected. In experiments with Alloteuthis, L-aspartate (10(-7) M) also caused a Schwann cell hyperpolarization, but this was not blocked by 2-APB. In tests with glutamate receptor agonists and antagonists, quisqualate (10(-5) M) produced a hyperpolarization blocked by 10(-4) M L-glutamic acid diethylester (GDEE), which also blocked the response to axonal stimulation. Kainic acid (10(-4) M) also caused a hyperpolarization, but n-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA; 10(-4) M), ibotenate (10(-5) M), alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-isoxazole proprionate (AMPA; (10(-4) M), and isethionate (10(-5) M) had no effect.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Functions of glial cells in the retina of the honeybee drone

In the retina of the honey bee drone, Apis mellifera male, physiological interactions between glial cells and neurons (the photoreceptors) are exceptionally clear-cut and amenable to investigation. The principal glia (outer pigment cells) contribute to the homeostasis of extracellular [K+] and [Na+] by 1) spatial buffering of K+ and 2) net uptake of K+ and Cl-. The glia supply carbohydrate metabolic substrate to the neurons; only the glia take up and phosphorylate glucose. Neuronal activity 1) modifies glycogen metabolism in the glia, and 2) can be signalled to the glia in the absence of elevated extracellular [K+].

Studies of axon-glial cell interactions and periaxonal K- homeostasis--I. The influence of Na+, K+, Cl- and cholinergic agents on the membrane potential of the adaxonal glia of the crayfish medial giant axon

The ionic basis for the low (-40 mV) resting membrane potential of glial cells surrounding the giant axons of the crayfish and their hyperpolarization by cholinergic agents (to -55 mV) was studied using standard electrophysiological techniques, ionic substitutions and pharmacological agents. The resting membrane potential of the glial cell was depolarized by increasing [K+]o, but the response was not Nernstian. Na+ depletion caused a small depolarization of the glial resting membrane potential, whereas Cl- depletion resulted in a hyperpolarization comparable to that seen with carbachol at various [K+]o. Both furosemide (1 mM) and bumetanide (0.1 mM) produced an 8-10 mV hyperpolarization as compared to 15-17 mV seen with Cl- depletion or carbachol. Carbachol has no further effect on the potential following furosemide treatment or Cl- depletion. After carbachol administration or Cl- depletion the resting membrane potential of the glial cell responded to [K+]o in a more Nernstian manner. The data indicate that the low resting membrane potential of glial cells is due to a combination of a low [K+]i and an outwardly-directed (depolarizing) Cl- electrochemical gradient. Carbachol acts to decrease Cl- conductance, resulting in the hyperpolarization of the glial cell membrane and a decrease in the outwardly-directed K+ electrochemical gradient by approximately two-thirds. We hypothesize that this mechanism for modulation of the glial cell membrane potential and the K+ electrochemical gradient serves to enhance the uptake of K+ by the glial cell transport system.

K+ accumulation in the space between giant axon and Schwann cell in the squid Alloteuthis. Effects of changes in osmolarity

In a train of impulses in squid giant axon, accumulation of extracellular potassium causes successive afterhyperpolarizations to be progressively less negative. In Loligo, Frankenhaeuser and Hodgkin had satisfactorily accounted for the characteristics of this effect with a model in which the axon is surrounded by a space, width theta, and a barrier of permeability P. In axons isolated from Alloteuthis, we found that the model fitted the observations quite well. Superfusing the axon with hypotonic artificial seawater (ASW) caused theta and P to decrease, and, conversely, hypertonic ASW caused them to increase: this would be the case if both the space and the pathway through the barrier were extracellular. In some cases, in normal ASW, the afterhyperpolarizations in a train decreased very little, less than 0.7 mV. In these extreme cases, theta was estimated to be 190 nm and P to be 7 x 10(-4) cm s-1, both several times the values of 30 nm and 6 x 10(-5) cm s-1 estimated by Frankenhaeuser and Hodgkin. We suggest that in vivo the periaxonal space may be considerably wider than that seen in conventionally fixed squid tissue.