title: Nitric oxide-active compounds modulate the intensity of glutamate-evoked responses in the globus pallidus of the rat.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The effects of local applied NO-active compounds on glutamate (GLU)-evoked responses were investigated in globus pallidus (GP) neurons.
  
  
  METHODS
  Extracellularly recorded single units from anesthetized rats were treated with GLU before and during the microiontophoretic application of S-nitrosoglutathione (SNOG), a NO donor, and Nω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), a NOS inhibitor.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most GP cells were excited by SNOG whereas administration of L-NAME induced decrease of GP neurons activity. Nearly all neurons responding to SNOG and/or L-NAME showed significant modulation of their excitatory responses to the administration of iontophoretic GLU. In these cells, the changes induced by NO-active drugs in the magnitude of GLU-evoked responses were used as indicators of NO modulation. In fact, when a NO-active drug was co-iontophoresed with GLU, significant changes in GLU-induced responses were observed: generally, increased magnitudes of GLU-evoked responses were observed during SNOG ejection, whereas the administration of L-NAME decreased responses to GLU.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that the NO-active drugs modulate the response of GP neurons to glutamatergic transmission. Nitrergic modulation of glutamatergic transmission could play an important role in the control of GP bioelectric activity, considered a fundamental key in the BG function.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bio-Medicina sperimentale e Neuroscienze cliniche, Sezione di Fisiologia umana “G. Pagano”, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Corso Tukory 129,1-90134 Palermo, Italy. pierangelo.sardo@unipa.it
authors.forename: Pierangelo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sardo
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carletti
authors.forename: Valerio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rizzo
authors.forename: Gioacchino
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lonobile
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Friscia
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferraro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000187:drug effects*; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000187:drug effects*; D005917:Globus Pallidus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007478:Iontophoresis; D008297:Male; D008839:Microelectrodes; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D020030:Nitric Oxide Donors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D020030:Nitric Oxide Donors; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester