Whole cell recordings from respiratory neurons in the medulla of brainstem-spinal cord preparations isolated from newborn rats.

In brainstem-spinal cord preparations isolated from newborn rats, a whole cell recording technique was applied to record membrane potentials of inspiratory (Insp) and pre-inspiratory (Pre-I) neurons in the ventrolateral medulla. Labelling of these respiratory neurons with Lucifer Yellow allowed analysis of their locations and morphology. Intracellular membrane potentials from 25 Insp neurons were recorded. Average resting membrane potential was -49 mV (n = 25) and input resistance was 306 M omega. Insp neurons were classified into three types from the patterns of synaptic potentials. Type I neurons (n = 11) had a high probability of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in the pre- and post-inspiratory phases. Type II neurons (n = 7) showed abrupt transition to the burst phase from the resting potential level without increased EPSPs in the preinspiratory phase. Type III neurons (n = 7) were hyperpolarized by inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) in the pre- and post-inspiratory phases. These Insp neurons, located in the ventrolateral medulla 80-490 microns from the ventral surface, were 10-30 microns in diameter, and had various soma shapes (pyramidal, spherical or fusiform). Intracellular membrane potentials from 24 Pre-I neurons were recorded. The average resting membrane potential was -45 mV (n = 24), and the input resistance was 320 M omega. Typical Pre-I neurons showed fairly great depolarization accompanied by action potentials during their burst phase and repolarization during the inspiratory phase. Most Pre-I neurons appeared to have a high level of synaptic activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)