Is glycine an inhibitory transmitter in rat lateral horn cells?

Spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) and evoked IPSPs were recorded from a portion of lateral horn cells situated in thin transverse thoracolumbar spinal cord slices removed from neonatal rats. The IPSPs were reduced by hyperpolarization and inverted at membrane potentials between -65 and -75 mV. Strychnine but not bicuculline reversibly eliminated the IPSPs. The hyperpolarizations elicited by exogenously applied glycine exhibited electrophysiological and pharmacological characteristics similar to that of IPSPs. The results are consistent with the suggestion that glycine mediates an IPSP in a population of lateral horn cells.