Abstract: Objective To study the electrophysiological properties of parvalbumin (PV) neurons in the auditory cortex (AC) and its descending auditory projection area in the tail of the striatum (TS). Methods The stimulation response of PV neuron step current was recorded in PV-Cre-Ai14 mice using in vitro patch clamp technique, and the release characteristics and waveform characteristics of PV neuron action potentials (APs) were analyzed using Clampfit and MATLAB software. The release characteristics of the APs included AP onset, rheobase, average firing rate, F/I slope and spike frequency adaptation (SFA); the waveform characteristics included peak and post potential characteristics. Results The PV neurons of the TS and the AC had significantly different electrophysiological characteristics. In terms of peak potential characteristics, the PV neurons in the TS presented with smaller half peak width (P<0.001) and larger amplitude (P<0.01) with larger maximum ascending slope (P<0.01) and maximum descending slope (P<0.05). For post potential characteristics, the PV neurons in the TS showed a greater post hyperpolarization (P<0.01) with a shorter time for recovery of the resting potential (P<0.01). The firing characteristics of the PV neurons of the TS featured a higher AP rheobase (P<0.01), a larger F/I slope (P<0.01), a greater firing onset delay (P<0.001), and a larger SFA (P<0.01). Conclusion The PV neurons in the TS and the AC of mice show significantly different electrophysiological characteristics in processing auditory information.

Key words: the tail of the striatum; auditory cortex; parvalbumin neuron; electrophysiological properties