Aim: To study the feasibility of long-term potentiation(LTP) recording in the CA1 area of the rat in vivo with electrodes-binding technique.
Methods: Anesthetizing Wistar rats with urethane and fixing the animal on the stereotaxic device for acute surgery; implanting cannula into lateral cerebral ventricle; inserting self-made bound stimulating/recording electrodes into hippocampal CA1 area; recording basal field excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSP) and tetanus-induced long term potentiation (LTP).
Results: fEPSPs were reliably induced by using the stimulating/recording electrodes-binding technique, and the appearance rate of fEPSP was nearly 100%; basal fEPSP recording was very stable, lasting for long time enough to finish all experiment; high frequency stimulation (HFS) successfully induced LTP, which maintained more than three hours, the inductivity is about 67%; paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) recording was also stable; intracerebroventricular (i c v) injection of amyloid beta suppressed HFSinduced LTP evidently.
Conclusion: The electrodes-binding technique for recording hippocampal LTP in vivo is quite simple and convenient. The experimental resource can be saved, and the rates of fEPSP appearance and LTP induction are kept high. Therefore, it is promising for this technique to be one electrophysiological auxiliary method in the research of learning and memory.