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We arrived one evening at the laboratory of
Professor Edwin Furshpan. He was at that time doing just what we were
interested in. He was studying the electrophysiology of neurons in the
brain. Specifically, he was trying to culture and study the C1 hippocampal
neurons. At that time no one had been successful in culturing these neurons
because they lived and thrived for a short time and then died, whereas other
neurons readily survived in culture. The difficulty, Professor Furshpan
discovered was that these hippocampal neurons grew initially in the medium
but they quickly extended dendrites, which attached to other neurons. When
this happened one neuron titillated the other neuron to which its dendrite
had attached into a frenzy of electrical activity, which quickly consumed
the ATP in the neuron and the neuron died. But if he added kyneurenic acid
(5 µM) to the medium bathing the hippocampal neuron, the suicidal electrical
activity was suppressed and there was only an occasional blip of electricity
seen in the tracing. As soon as the kyneurenic acid was washed out from the
neuron the suicidal burst of electricity recommenced and the kyneurenic acid
had to be added promptly to the medium or the neuron would die. |
