Potassium current inDrosophila neurons is increased by eitherdunce mutation or cyclic AMP

Abstract
In the Drosophila mutant dunce, short-term memory is deficient and intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) concentration is elevated. We examined the effect of increased cAMP concentration on the potassium current. The conventional whole-cell technique was applied to cultured “giant” Drosophilaneurons derived from cell-division arrested embryonic neuroblasts. Potassium membrane currents were measured from: 1) control wild-type neurons, 2) wild-type neurons with dibutyryl cAMP and theophylline in the culture media for 2 days (db-cAMP-treated), and 3) dunceneurons. Delayed-rectifier potassium current was greater in both dunceneurons and db-cAMP-treated wild-type neurons than in control wild-type neurons. This result indicates that the neuronal potassium current is increased by the long-term increase of cAMP. Conceivably, altered neuronal excitability in the dunce mutant could disrupt the processing of neural signals necessary for learning and memory. J. Neurosci. Res. 52:521–529, 1998.

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