Propofol Affects Cortico-Hippocampal Interactions via β3 Subunit-Containing GABA<sub>A</sub> Receptors

oleh: Matthias Kreuzer, Sergejus Butovas, Paul S García, Gerhard Schneider, Cornelius Schwarz, Uwe Rudolph, Bernd Antkowiak, Berthold Drexler

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2020-08-01

Deskripsi

Background: General anesthetics depress neuronal activity. The depression and uncoupling of cortico-hippocampal activity may contribute to anesthetic-induced amnesia. However, the molecular targets involved in this process are not fully characterized. GABA<sub>A</sub> receptors, especially the type with β3 subunits, represent a main molecular target of propofol. We therefore hypothesized that GABA<sub>A</sub> receptors with β3 subunits mediate the propofol-induced disturbance of cortico-hippocampal interactions. Methods: We used local field potential (LFP) recordings from chronically implanted cortical and hippocampal electrodes in wild-type and β3(N265M) knock-in mice. In the β3(N265M) mice, the action of propofol via β3subunit containing GABA<sub>A</sub> receptors is strongly attenuated. The analytical approach contained spectral power, phase locking, and mutual information analyses in the 2–16 Hz range to investigate propofol-induced effects on cortico-hippocampal interactions. Results: Propofol caused a significant increase in spectral power between 14 and 16 Hz in the cortex and hippocampus of wild-type mice. This increase was absent in the β3(N265M) mutant. Propofol strongly decreased phase locking of 6–12 Hz oscillations in wild-type mice. This decrease was attenuated in the β3(N265M) mutant. Finally, propofol reduced the mutual information between 6–16 Hz in wild-type mice, but only between 6 and 8 Hz in the β3(N265M) mutant. Conclusions: GABA<sub>A</sub> receptors containing β3 subunits contribute to frequency-specific perturbation of cortico-hippocampal interactions. This likely explains some of the amnestic actions of propofol.