Neurosteroid effects on neuronal network activity in vitro.

GABA receptors type A (GABAAR) are ligand-gated ion channels permeable for chloride anions. In the mammalian brain they mediate most of the inhibitory transmission. Moreover, the dysfunctions of the GABA-mediated system result in many neurological disorders, including epilepsy, anxiety and depression. Neurosteroids are cholesterol metabolites interacting with a variety of membrane receptors and have a direct effect on neuronal excitability. The neurosteroids allo-pregnanolone (allo-PA) and pregnanolone (PA) are potent positive modulators of the GABAAR. The goal of this work is to establish a newly constructed application system and a calcium imaging method using the GCaMP sensor to examine the effects of PA on the activity of primary hippocampal cultures. In this work we validate the application system and test the GCaMP calcium sensor in vitro. Application of PA inhibited the spontaneous calcium peaks, which agrees with its known actions on the GABAAR. We discovered that the neurosteroid inhibitory effect on the neuronal network activity changes after repeated applications. The results suggest that there might be some compensatory actions on the GABAAR level during prolonged or repeated exposition to PA. Key words: GABAAR; neurosteroid; pregnanolone; allopregnanolone; calcium; GCaMP; inhibitio