ABSTRACT
One striking feature of neural changes in hibernating species is that information processing by the central nervous system (CNS) appears to change appropriately for each environmental condition. The electro responsive properties of mammalian CNS neurons are mediated by a variety of voltage- and ligand-sensitive ionic membrane conductances. In this chapter, the authors focus on cellular changes in a well studied cell type, the CA1 pyramidal cell of the hippocampus. They consider the effect of temperature on calcium dependent mechanisms in this cell type in the euthermic hamster. The authors examine the changes that occur in the hamster hippocampal slice as temperature is lowered. In a sets of experiments on hamsters they have directed attention to input/output responses of hippocampal CAl pyramidal cells, and long-term potentiation, a form of neuronal plasticity prominently studied in this element. Conventional techniques were used for recording membrane potentials and stimulation of pyramidal cells by intracellular injection.
