Characterization of excitatory synaptic transmission in the retrosplenial cortex of adult mice.

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Oujiang Laboratory (Zhejiang Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine, Vision and Brain Health), Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Published: June 2025


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Article Abstract

The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) plays an important role in navigation, memory and pain. However, there are few studies on excitatory synaptic transmission in the RSC. Here, we used a multi-electrode array recording system (MED64) to study the characteristics of excitatory synaptic transmission in the RSC and the contribution of different types of voltage-gated Ca channels (VGCCs) in excitatory synaptic transmission. We found that glutamate is the major excitatory transmitter for RSC, and postsynaptic alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors contribute to excitatory synaptic transmission. We also found that the N-type calcium channel blocker ω-conotoxin GVIA (ω-Ctx GVIA) had an inhibitory effect on basal synaptic transmission. The inhibitory effect was not consistent across channels, suggesting the actions effect of N-type VGCCs in RSC was inhomogeneous in spatial distribution. Our findings provide strong evidence that excitatory synaptic transmission in the RSC is mainly mediated by AMPA receptors and that N-type VGCCs mediate fast synaptic transmission in the RSC of adult mice.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12171265PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17448069251335500DOI Listing

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