Pressure induces striatal serotonin and dopamine increases: a simultaneous analysis in free-moving microdialysed rats

High pressure is known as a basic etiological factor underlying central nervous system changes known as the high pressure neurological syndrome (HPNS). In the rat, HPNS includes behavioural disturbances including locomotor and motor hyperactivities (LMA) linked to a striatal dopamine (DA) increase. Recent findings have shown that intracerebroventricular administration of 5-HT3 or 5-HT1b antagonists decrease both LMA and striatal DA increase suggesting that pressure could enhance the serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission. In this study, for the first time, the striatal levels of DA and 5-HT were simultaneously monitored using microdialysis in free-moving rats exposed to high pressure. Our results show that the striatal 5-HT level increases during pressure exposure. These data suggest that pressure-induced striatal 5-HT increase could participate in the increasing DA release. Nevertheless, the lack of correlation between striatal DA and 5-HT changes suggests that other processes are involved in the pressure-induced striatal DA increase.