title: Dopaminergic influence on the excitability of antidromically activated Renshaw cells in the lumbar spinal cord of the rat.
abstract: The interaction between dopaminergic and cholinergic systems in the mammalian central nervous system, which is thought to have important implications in the pathophysiology of major extrapyramidal disorders, has never been adequately demonstrated in vivo. Renshaw cell burst responses to single electrical shocks to lumbar ventral roots in spinalized and decerebrated rats were studied. In this monosynaptic cholinergic pathway, apomorphine, a dopaminergic receptor agonist, inhibited whereas the D2-antagonist sulpiride facilitated the burst responses. The mutual antagonism of the two drugs and the depression coupled with the faster decay of post-tetanic potentiation of Renshaw cells by apomorphine demonstrate the involvement of presynaptic D2-receptors through which dopamine can modulate acetylcholine-mediated central synaptic transmission in vivo. The study also provides further evidence for the involvement of the spinal cord in extrapyramidal disorders.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Calcutta.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Maitra
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Seth
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thewissen
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Ganguly
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001058:Apomorphine / Q000494:pharmacology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004594:Electrophysiology; D008161:Lumbosacral Region; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013469:Sulpiride / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D013469:Sulpiride; D001058:Apomorphine; D004298:Dopamine