| Mutations of the voltage-gated calcium channels are associated with neurological disorders of human and mice, which include cerebellar ataxia and some forms of seizure disorders. We study the relation how a single mutation causes neurological manifestations, mainly using brain slice preparations. Recently, we identified a dramatic impairment in the neural circuit of feedforward inhibition in the thalamocortical projection in epileptic calcium channel mutant mice tottering. | ||
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Figure. EEG of a tottering mouse during absence seizure (top). Frequency analysis of this EEG shows enhanced spectrum around 6 - 7 Hz during the absence seizure (middle). A brain slice preparation in which the connection between the thalamus and the cerebral cortex is preserved (bottom left). The disynaptic inhibitory input to cortical cells from the thalamus was reduced in tottering mice (bottom right, red dashed circle). | |