Figure 7.
Artificial fast-activating BK current promotes bursting in gonadotrophs. A, Voltage time course recorded from a gonadotroph under control conditions. The cell is spiking, and the distribution of event duration is sharp (right). B, Addition via dynamic clamp of an artificial BK current (gBK = 0.5 nS) with activation time constant of 10 ms switches the cell activity to mostly bursting. C, Increasing the BK activation time constant decreases the burstiness. Very few bursts are present, as shown by the voltage time course (left) and the event duration distribution (right). D, Summary of the effect of adding an artificial BK current (τBK = 10 ms) on burstiness in six gonadotrophs. E, Summary of the effect of increasing BK activation time constant (τBK) on burstiness (n = 6). Gonadotrophs were identified by their larger size and the characteristic hyperpolarizations recorded in response to 1 nm gonadotropin-releasing hormone.