セロトニンによる培養神経回路網の発火パターン調節

概要

論文の詳細を見る
Serotonin (5-hydroxy tryptamine; 5-HT) plays major roles in mood and cognition. Dysfunction of 5-HT system leads to serious mental illnesses such as major depressive disorder. Little is known, however, about how 5-HT modulates the activity of neuronal network. Here, we evaluated the effects of 5-HT on the activity of cultured neurons obtained from the prefrontal cortex. Dissociated neurons were cultured on a microelectrode array (MEA), and stimulated using 5-HT and selective 5-HT receptor (5-HTR) agonists (8-OH-DPAT and 2-Me-5-HT were used as 5-HTR1A and 5-HTR3 agonist, respectively). The bursting activity generated from the cultured neurons was recorded from the electrodes of the MEA. The inter burst intervals (IBI) increased after 5-HT and agonists treatment. Moreover, we evaluated functional connectivity using a delayed transfer entropy method. Pharmacological treatment resulted in enhancement of the connectivity in the entire network. Agonists had apparent effects as the changes of IBI and functional connectivity compared with 5-HT. These results suggest that 5-HT has roles in enhancement of IBI and functional connectivity via 5-HTR1A and 5-HTR3.