Dye-coupling among neurons of the rat locus coeruleus during postnatal development

Simultaneous recordings from pairs of locus coeruleus neurons in neonatal rat brain slices previously demonstrated synchronous, subthreshold oscillations of membrane potential (rats < 24 days old) and electrotonic-coupling between 40% of pairs of neurons from rats less than 10 days old.³ In the present study, slices from 1-21 day-old rats were stained with avidin-HRP-diaminobenzidine only if a single neuron per slice was impaled for longer than 10 min using an electrode containing biocytin. In slices from rats less than one week old, multiple stained neurons (3.8 ± 0.6 neurons/slice) were observed in 10 of 11 slices. Apparent contacts between stained neurons were observed at varying distances along dendrites. In rats older than one week significantly fewer multiple stained neurons were observed (three of 20 slices). The proportion of neurons displaying spontaneous subthreshold oscillations of membrane potential decreased with age, and the frequencies of subthreshold oscillations of membrane potential and entrained action potentials increased with age. The presence of multiple stained neurons was not correlated with the occurrence of subthreshold oscillations, cell input resistance, or the number of coupled neurons predicted from the shape of electrotonic potentials. In recordings from neurons displaying subthreshold oscillations, input resistance was lower and the number of coupled neurons predicted from electrotonic potentials was greater than in those without oscillations. These results suggest that low resistance pathways are common between locus coeruleus neurons in brain slices from rats younger than about one week old, consistent with previous electrotonic-coupling studies. Coupling between neurons may be partly responsible for synchronous oscillations, and could contribute to the widespread trophic role of noradrenergic neurons during early development.