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Preparation of Acute Hippocampal Slices from Rats and Transgenic Mice for the Study of Synaptic Alterations during Aging and Amyloid Pathology
Published on: March 23, 2011
Increased effect of noradrenaline on synaptic responses in rat CA1 hippocampal area after adrenalectomy
1Division of Molecular Neurobiology, Institute of Molecular Biology, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Pyramidal neurons in the rat CA1 hippocampal area contain intracellular receptors for the steroid hormone corticosterone, and membrane associated alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptors. We compared the effect of noradrenaline (NA) on the synaptically evoked CA1 field potential in adrenalectomized (ADX) rats, where corticosteroid receptors are not occupied, with sham-operated controls. It appeared that the increase in the amplitude of the field potential induced by 10 microM NA was more pronounced in slices from ADX rats than in sham operated controls. In vitro application of 30 nM corticosterone (20 min) to slices from ADX rats shifted the NA-evoked increases in synaptic efficacy towards the level of the sham operated rats. The incidence of a secondary population spike after application of NA was increased in slices from ADX rats compared to slices from sham controls or ADX rats treated with corticosterone. Occupation of receptors for corticosterone in the hippocampal CA1 area may therefore potentially lead to suppression of excitability.
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