Activity and calcium-dependent mechanisms maintain reliable interneuron synaptic transmission in a rhythmic neural network.

Inputs from glutamatergic excitatory interneurons (EIN) to motor neurons in the lamprey spinal cord locomotor network exhibit activity-dependent depression during spike trains. The mechanism underlying this depression has been examined here, and its relevance to transmitter release during rhythmic activity has been investigated. The depression of EIN inputs was greater after larger initial EPSPs and reduced in low-calcium Ringer's solution, effects that are consistent with depression caused by depletion of releasable transmitter stores. However, the depression was greater at lower stimulation frequencies and could be reversed by increasing the stimulation frequency. In addition, high-calcium Ringer's solution and the slow intracellular calcium chelator EGTA-AM, which both failed to affect the amplitude of low frequency-evoked EPSPs, reduced and increased the depression, respectively. These results are inconsistent with a simple depletion mechanism but suggest that ongoing activity and calcium-dependent mechanisms oppose depletion. The network relevance of this mechanism was examined using physiologically relevant bursts to simulate EIN spiking during rhythmic activity. Although considerably more EPSPs were evoked than during spike trains, burst-evoked EPSPs did not depress. However, single EPSPs evoked at the interburst interval depressed, and burst transmission was disrupted by EGTA-AM, again suggesting the involvement of activity and calcium-dependent mechanisms. By responding to the calcium changes evoked by increased interneuron activity, this mechanism can monitor transmitter requirements caused by EIN spiking, allowing reliable transmission across different patterns of network activity. However, not all types of spinal interneurons exhibit reliable burst transmission, suggesting specificity of this mechanism to a subset of neurons.