Antisense oligonucleotides ragainst α_1E reduce R-type calcium currents in cerebellar granule cells

摘要

Many neurons of the central nervous system display multiple high voltage-activated Ca~2+ currents, phar- macologically classified as L-, N-, P-, Q-, and R-type. Of these current types, the R-type is the least understood. The leading candidate for the molecular correlate of R-type currents in cerebellar granule cells is the 1E subunit, which yields Ca~2+ currents very similar to the R-type when expressed in heter- ologous systems. As a complementary approach, we tested whether antisense oligonucleotides against 1E could decrease the expression of R-type current in rat cerebellar granule neurons in culture. Cells were supplemented with either antisense or sense oligonucleotides and whole-cell patch clamp recordings were obtained after 6-8 days in vito.