Passive biophysical membrane properties of nucleus reticularis gigantocellularis neurons in brain slices from the rat

This study employed intracellular recording coupled with the current clamp technique to characterize the passive biophysical membrane properties of neurons in the nucleus reticularis gigantocellularis (NRGC) of brain slices from adult, male Sprague-Dawley rats. We found that NRGC neurons possessed highly depolarized transmembrane potentials (-22.9 ± 0.6 mV, n = 189). The 29 NRGC neurons that received further evaluation showed that they could be separated into two clusters, with significantly different membrane input resistances (3.51 ± 0.89 vs 77.50 ± 8.82 M Ω) and membrane time constants (0.56 ± 0.05 vs 1.27 ± 0.12 ms). These membrane properties, which resembled qualitatively those we observed previously in cats in vivo, will form the basis for further evaluation of the ionic mechanisms that may underlie the actions of pharmacologic agents on the NRGC neurons.