Inhibition by L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine of hippocampal CA1 neurons with facilitation of noradrenaline and gamma-aminobutyric acid release.
Electrophysiological studies were performed to elucidate whether L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) acted on hippocampal CA1 neurons, since this drug has been reported to act as a neurotransmitter in the hypothalamus and striatum. Hippocampal slices (450 microM thick) obtained from male Wistar rats (4-7 weeks of age) were placed in a bath (maintained at 30+/-1 degrees C) continuously perfused with artificial cerebrospinal fluid. The population spikes elicited by electrical stimuli applied to the Schaffer collateral/commissural fibers were recorded in the hippocampal CA1 region, using a glass micropipette filled with 3 M NaCl. Drugs were applied in the bath through a perfusion system. The population spikes were inhibited by L-DOPA (1 nM-10 microM) with a bell-shaped concentration-response curve (n=7-15). Maximum inhibitory effects were obtained at 100 nM. L-DOPA cyclohexyl ester, a putative L-DOPA recognition site antagonist, antagonized the L-DOPA-induced inhibition of population spike. However, the inhibition remained unaffected in the presence of 3-hydroxybenzylhydrazine, an aromatic amino acid decarboxylase inhibitor. Furthermore, bath application of either phentolamine, an alpha-adrenoceptor antagonist, or bicuculline, a GABA(A) receptor antagonist, antagonized the inhibitory effects of L-DOPA on population spikes. In addition, bicuculline (1 microM) antagonized the inhibition of population spike induced by 6-fluoronorepinephrine (10 microM), an alpha-adrenoceptor agonist, while phentolamine (10 microM) did not affect the muscimol (1 microM)-induced inhibition. These results suggested that L-DOPA itself acted on L-DOPA recognition sites to release noradrenaline, and that the latter facilitates gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) release via alpha-adrenoceptors located on the GABA-containing cells and/or their nerve terminals, thereby inhibiting the population spikes in the hippocampal CA1 field.
Department of Pharmacology, Hiroshima University School of Medicine, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.
M
M
Akbar
K
K
Ishihara
M
M
Sasa
Y
Y
Misu
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D000317:Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001640:Bicuculline / Q000494:pharmacology; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D018756:GABA Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D007980:Levodopa / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D010646:Phentolamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism
D000317:Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists; D015259:Dopamine Agents; D018756:GABA Antagonists; D007980:Levodopa; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; C024884:6-fluoronorepinephrine; D009638:Norepinephrine; D001640:Bicuculline; D010646:Phentolamine