Electrophysiological properties of cholinergic and noncholinergic neurons in the ventral pallidal region of the nucleus basalis in rat brain slices

Abstract

The ventral pallidum is a major source of output for ventral corticobasal ganglia circuits that function in translating motivationally relevant stimuli into adaptive behavioral responses. In this study, whole cell patch-clamp recordings were made from ventral pallidal neurons in brain slices from 6- to 18-day-old rats. Intracellular filling with biocytin was used to correlate the electro-physiological and morphological properties of cholinergic and non-cholinergic neurons identified by choline acetyltransferase immunohistochemistry. Most cholinergic neurons had a large whole cell conductance and exhibited marked fast (i.e., anomalous) inward rectification. These cells typically did not fire ..