Impact of heterogeneous perisomatic IPSC populations on pyramidal cell firing rates

Previous computational modeling studies suggested a set of rules underlying the modulation of principal cell firing rates by heterogeneity in the synaptic parameters ( peak amplitude and decay kinetics) of populations of GABAergic inputs. Here we performed dynamic clamp experiments in CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells to test these ideas in biological neurons. In agreement with the simulation studies, the effects of increasing the event-to-event variance in a population of perisomatically injected inhibitory postsynaptic current (IPSC) peak conductances caused either an increase, decrease, or no change in the firing rates of CA1 pyramidal cells depending on the mean around which the scatter was introduced, the degree of the scatter, the depolarization that the pyramidal cell received, and the IPSC reversal potential. In contrast to CA1 pyramidal cells, both model and biological CA3 pyramidal cells responded with bursts of action potentials to sudden, step-wise alterations in input heterogeneity. In addition, injections of 40-Hz IPSC conductances together with theta-modulated depolarizing current inputs to CA1 pyramidal cells demonstrated that the principles underlying the modulation of pyramidal cell excitability by heterogeneous IPSC populations also apply during membrane potential oscillations. Taken together, these experimental results and the computational modeling data show the existence of simple rules governing the interactions of heterogeneous interneuronal inputs and principal cells.