Effects of nerve growth factor on the organotypic hippocampal slice culture using MEA system

The neurotrophic effects of Nerve growth factor (NGF) on basal forebrain cholinergic neurons are well established. However, its potential actions as a fast-acting neuromodulator and the related receptor are not as well understood. The aim of this study is to investigate NGF-induced spatiotemporal neuronal activity changes in cultured rat organotypic hippocampal slices (OHCs), using a multielectrode array (MEA) system. NGF treatment rapidly produced long-term potentiation (LTP) like field excitatory post-synaptic potentials (fEPSP). Even after removing NGF by washing, the LTP-like fEPSP was maintained for a long time. To investigate the role of tropomyosin receptor kinase (Trk) receptor in the neural activity changes in rat OHCs, we treated the TrkA receptor blocker k252a. In the presence of the TrkA receptor blocker k252a the NGF-induced the LTP-like fEPSP was abolished. Taken together, these results show that the NGF-induced LTP-like fEPSP in rat OHCs might be strongly related with the TrkA receptor, and that MEA might be a good tool to investigate the NGF-induced neuronal activity changes in rat OHCs.