Spreading depression in hippocampus and neocortex of rats induced by ACTH(1-24)

Microinjection of synthetic ACTH(1-24) solution into the neocortex or hippocampus of anesthetized rats elicited waves of spreading depression in both structures. The average effective doses for eliciting spreading depression were 6.22 mug (range 2.5-15.0 mug) in neocortex and 1.38 mug (range 0.24-2.88 mug) in hippocampus. This suggests that some of the behaviors elicited by intracranial injection of ACTH may be due to hippocampal (and possibly also neocortical) spreading depression.