Contribution of apamin-sensitive SK channels to the firing precision but not to the slow afterhyperpolarization and spike frequency adaptation in snail neurons

Apamin-sensitive small conductance Ca2+-dependent K+(SK) channels are generally accepted as responsible for the medium afterhyperpolarization (mAHP) after single or train of action potentials. Here, we examined the functional involvement of these channels in the firing precision, post train AHP and spike frequency adaptation (SFA) in neurons of snail Caucasotachea atrolabiata. Apamin, a selective SK channel antagonist, reduced the duration of single-spike AHP and disrupted the spontaneous rhythmic activity. High frequency trains of evoked action potentials showed a time-dependent decrease in the action potential discharge rate (spike frequency adaptation) and followed by a prominent post stimulus inhibitory period (PSIP) as a marker of slow AHP (sAHP). Neither sAHP nor SFA was attenuated by apamin, suggesting that apamin-sensitive SK channels can strongly affect the rhythmicity, but are probably not involved in the SFA and sAHP. Nifedipine, antagonist of L-type Ca2+ channels, decreased the firing frequency and neuronal rhythmicity. When PSIP was normalized to the background interspike interval, a suppressing effect of nifedipine on PSIP was also observed. Intracellular iontophoretic injection of BAPTA, a potent Ca2+ chelator, dramatically suppressed PSIP that confirms the intracellular Ca2+ dependence of the sAHP, but had no discernable effect on the SFA. During train-evoked activity a reduction in the action potential overshoot and maximum depolarization rate was also observed, along with a decrease in the firing frequency, while the action potential threshold increased, which indicated that Na+ channels, rather than Ca2+-dependent K+ channels, are involved in the SFA.