Functional coupling between NMDA receptors and SK channels in rat hypothalamic magnocellular neurons: altered mechanisms during heart failure

Key points Glutamatergic NMDA receptors (NMDARs) and small conductance Ca 2+ ‐activated K + (SK) channels are critical synaptic and intrinsic mechanisms, respectively, that regulate the activity of hypothalamic magnocellular neurosecretory neurons (MNNs). In this work, we investigated whether NMDARs and SK channels in MNNs are functionally coupled, and whether an altered coupling may contribute to exacerbated neuronal activity in this condition. We report that NMDARs and SK channels form a functional Ca 2+ ‐dependent negative feedback loop that restrains the excitatory effect on membrane potential and firing activity evoked by NMDAR activation. The negative feedback loop between NMDARs and SK channels was blunted or absent in MNNs of heart failure (HF) rats. These results help us better understand how synaptic and intrinsic mechanisms regulate hypothalamic neuronal activity, as well as how changes in the interaction among these disparate mechanisms contribute to altered neuronal activity during prevalent neurogenic cardiovascular diseases. Abstract Glutamatergic NMDA receptors (NMDARs) and small conductance Ca 2+ ‐activated K + (SK) channels are critical synaptic and intrinsic mechanisms, respectively, that regulate the activity of hypothalamic magnocellular neurosecretory neurons (MNNs), both under physiological and pathological states, such as lactation and heart failure (HF). However, whether NMDARs and SK channels in MNNs are functionally coupled, and whether changes in this coupling contribute to exacerbated neuronal activity during HF is at present unknown. In the present study, we addressed these questions using patch‐clamp electrophysiology and confocal Ca 2+ imaging in a rat model of ischaemic HF. We found that in MNNs of sham rats, blockade of SK channels with apamin (200 nM) significantly increased the magnitude of an NMDAR‐evoked current ( I NMDA ). We also observed that blockade of SK channels potentiated NMDAR‐evoked firing, and abolished spike frequency adaptation in MNNs from sham, but not HF rats. Importantly, a larger I NMDA ‐ΔCa 2+ response was observed under basal conditions in HF compared to sham rats. Finally, we found that dialysing recorded cells with the Ca 2+ chelator BAPTA (10 mM) increased the magnitude of I NMDA in MNNs from both sham and HF rats, and occluded the effects of apamin in the former. Together our studies demonstrate that in MNNs, NMDARs and SK channels are functionally coupled, forming a local negative feedback loop that restrains the excitatory effect evoked by NMDAR activation. Moreover, our studies also support a blunted NMDAR–SK channel coupling in MNNs of HF rats, establishing it as a pathophysiological mechanism contributing to exacerbated hypothalamic neuronal activity during this prevalent neurogenic cardiovascular disease.