Electrophysiological properties of interneurons from intraoperative spiking areas of epileptic human temporal neocortex

Abstract

We combined visual-assisted whole-cell recordings with Lucifer Yellow labelling to record in vitro from interneuron-like cells from human epileptic neocortical tissue that exhibited spiking activity in situ. Information from intraoperative electrocorticography, which was performed to tailor resection, were used to select those areas that participate in interictal spiking. Whole-cell recordings from slices prepared from these areas showed that both pyramidal and interneuron-like cells were present and retained their main intrinsic firing patterns, i.e. regular spiking and fast spiking, respectively. Moreover, non-pyramidal interneuron-like cells remained innervated by excitatory inputs as both spontaneous and evoked non-NMDA mediated excitatory postsynaptic potentials were recorded. We conclude that putative inhibitory GABAergic cells are present and functional in the human epileptic tissue.