Graded calcium spikes differentially signal neurotransmitter input in cerebrospinal fluid contacting neurons of mouse spinal cord

Abstract

AbstractThe action potential and its all-or-none nature is fundamental to neural communication. Canonically the action potential is initiated once voltage-gated Na+ (NaV) channels are activated and their rapid kinetics of activation and inactivation give rise to the all-or-none nature. Here we show that cerebrospinal fluid contacting neurons (CSFcNs) surrounding the central canal of the mouse spinal cord employ a different strategy. Rather than using Nav channels to generate binary spikes, CSFcNs use two different types of voltage-gated Ca2+ channel, enabling spikes of different amplitude. T-type Ca2+ channels are required for spontaneous spiking and generate lower amplitude spikes, whereas large amplitude spikes require high voltage activated Cd2+ sensitive Ca2+ channels. We show that these different amplitude spikes signal input from different transmitter systems; purinergic inputs evoke smaller T-type dependent spikes while cholinergic inputs evoke large T-type independent spikes. Different synaptic inputs to CSFcNs can therefore be signalled by the spike amplitude.