Chick ciliary ganglion in dissociated cell culture: II. Electrophysiological properties

Abstract The electrophysiological properties and the responses to iontophoretically applied acetylcholine were investigated in dissociated ciliary ganglion neurons from 10- to 11-day chick embryos. Neurons in culture have voltage-dependent sodium, potassium, and calcium currents. In addition, intracellular accumulation of calcium activates a potassium current, that is insensitive to extracellular tetraethylammonium but is blocked by intracellular cesium. These properties were present even in freshly plated neurons. The response to acetylcholine was also present in freshly plated neurons and has an apparent reversal potential of −24 ± 8 mV. The sensitivity to acetylcholine is low in cultured neurons and this is attributed to a low density of acetylcholine receptors. Several culture conditions were tested but they did not affect the electrical properties of ciliary ganglion neurons or their ability to respond to acetylcholine.