Effects of GABA and related agents on the electrical activity of hypothalamic ventromedial nucleus neurons in vitro

Functional and neurochemical evidence suggests significant GABA participation in the basomedial hypothalamus. We have investigated electrophysiological effects of GABA using in vitro recording from hypothalamic tissue slices. Exogenous GABA inhibited 94 out of 121 ventromedial hypothalamic (VMN) neurons tested. In sixty-one percent of these GABA-responsive neurons, the inhibitory action of GABA was blocked by GABAA antagonists, bicuculline methiodide (BMI) and picrotoxin (PTX). Nevertheless, many (27/69) GABA-responsive neurons were not sensitive to GABAA blockers: BMI and PTX failed to antagonize inhibitory action of GABA. Most, if not all, of these inhibitions can be accounted for by GABAB effects, since baclofen powerfully inhibited 42 of 44 neurons tested. In addition to blocking the inhibitory action of exogenous GABA, BMI (55%) and PTX (36%) also caused changes of neuronal activity indicating blockade of intrinsic GABAergic action. Altogether, our results showed that, in the VMN, GABA acts through not only GABAA but also GABAB receptors to inhibit neuronal activity, and that there is tonic inhibition by intrinsic GABA neurons. These GABA actions may participate in behaviorally-relevant VMN hypothalamic mechanisms.