Effect of coriaria lactone on membrane potential of hippocampal neurons in rats.

Intracellular recording method of electrophysiology was used to study the effect of microinjection of coriaria lactone (CL) into hippocampus on membrane potential of hippocampal neurons in rats. The membrane potential in 34 neurons of 12 rats were recorded. The results showed that CL induced depolarization of all of 34 neurons examined. Among the 34 neurons, 15 had paroxysmal depolarization accompanied by spike discharge in cluster and spike discharge in cluster ceased when membrane was hyperpolarized, 7 showed continuous depolarization accompanied by continuous spike discharge and 12 had only depolarizing response. The results suggest that injection of CL into hippocampus may lead to an increase of excitability of local neurons accompanied by different patterns of epileptioform discharge.