PMID: 8963951Jan 1, 1996Paper

Transient and long-lasting effects of iontophoretically administered norepinephrine on somatosensory cortical neurons in halothane-anesthetized cats

Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
R A Warren, R W Dykes

Abstract

We examined the modulatory effects of iontophoretically administered norepinephrine (NE) on the excitability of 117 neurons in cat somatosensory cortex. NE was released in the vicinity of neurons with receptive fields (31/117) while they were excited by somatic stimuli and near neurons without receptive fields (86/117) while they were excited by glutamate. In 54% of the neurons (n = 63) the effects were inhibitory, decreasing both the spontaneous and the driven activity. Most of these cells were found in the middle layers of cortex. In 36% of the neurons (n = 42), mostly located in either the upper or lower layers, the effects were excitatory, enhancing either or both driven and spontaneous activity, but 52% (n = 22) of this group displayed a transient phase of inhibition. NE usually had a proportionately greater effect on the spontaneous activity than on the evoked activity. Effects of specific NE agonists and antagonists indicated that alpha 2- and beta-receptors mediated the inhibition, but that alpha 1-receptors mediated the excitation. We hypothesize that when NE is released in cat somatosensory cortex, it modulates neuronal responses to afferent activity by generally reducing the excitability of cells in the middle layers...Continue Reading

Citations

May 2, 1998·The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry·B D GyntherP Sah
Apr 1, 1997·The European Journal of Neuroscience·Y Manunta, J M Edeline
Feb 24, 2001·Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences. Série III, Sciences de la vie·J C Lecas
May 21, 1999·The European Journal of Neuroscience·Y Manunta, J M Edeline
Apr 15, 2005·Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism : Official Journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism·Frank RichterHans-Georg Schaible

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