A receptor subunit can affect both the timing of an inhibitory current and its response to a drug. Ye and colleagues tested those properties in a mouse preparation from the visual thalamus.
The researchers selectively deleted the gamma-2 subunit in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus and recorded spontaneous inhibitory currents in relay neurons. Events became less frequent overall and were absent in some neurons. Remaining slow currents were insensitive to diazepam under the tested conditions. Their response to another modulator was consistent with, but did not directly establish, involvement of gamma-1-containing receptors.
The study helps explain why neighboring neurons in one circuit may differ in their response to a benzodiazepine. Its measurements concern defined cells and synaptic currents after a targeted genetic manipulation. They do not yield a concentration threshold for visual impairment or a prediction about an individual’s behavior.