Mechanisms and Roles of Intrinsic Persistent Firing in the Hippocampus

Abstract

Persistent firing is believed to support short-term (up to tens of seconds) information retention in the brain. Although recurrent synaptic excitation is widely known to support persistent firing, recent studies have established that neurons can support persistent firing through an intrinsic mechanism within individual cells. This intrinsic mechanism involves activations of cholinergic receptors and the calcium activated non-selective cationic (CAN) current, and is observed in multiple brain areas including the hippocampus. Computer simulations from my group indicate that this mechanism is crucial for persistent firing in vivo, and it underlies the transition of hippocampal activity between encoding and consolidation stages.