Experiments were performed to confirm that noradrenergic terminals regulate extracellular concentrations of dopamine (DA) in the frontal cortex of rats. The effects of 20 mg/kg 1‐[2‐[bis(4‐fluorphenyl)methoxy]‐ethyl]‐4‐(3‐phenylpropyl)piperazine (GBR 12909), a selective inhibitor of DA uptake, and 2.5 mg/kg desipramine (DMI) on the extracellular concentrations of DA in the frontal cortex and striatum were studied in rats given 6‐hydroxydopamine (6 µg/µl) bilaterally into the locus coeruleus to destroy noradrenergic terminals. GBR 12909 increased dialysate DA similarly in the striatum of vehicle and 6‐hydroxydopamine‐treated rats, whereas in the frontal cortex it raised DA concentrations only in lesioned animals. DMI raised extracellular DA concentrations in the frontal cortex but not in the striatum of controls. The effect of DMI on cortical DA was abolished by the 6‐hydroxydopamine lesion. GBR 12909, at a subcutaneous dose of 20 mg/kg, further increased cortical dialysate DA in rats given DMI intraperitoneally at 20 mg/kg or through the probe at 10−5 mol/L. The data support the hypothesis of an important regulation of the extracellular concentrations of DA in the frontal cortex by noradrenergic terminals.

The nitric oxide (NO) synthase/cGMP pathway has been studied in vivo in the adult rat hippocampus by monitoring the levels of extracellular cGMP during microdialysis in conscious unrestrained animals. The basal cGMP efflux was concentration-dependently reduced upon local infusion of the NO synthase inhibitor NG-nitro-L-arginine (NARG; 10 microM to 1 mM). The NO donors hydroxylamine and S-nitroso-N-penicillamine, perfused through the dialysis probe at 1 mM, increased by about 200% the extracellular levels of cGMP. The glutamate receptor agonist NMDA (125-500 microM) produced concentration-dependent cGMP responses that were abolished by the selective receptor antagonist D-2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid or by NARG. Local perfusion of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX; 1 mM) produced a steady eightfold increase of extracellular cGMP levels. The effect of IBMX was highly sensitive to NARG. The inhibition by NARG of the IBMX-induced cGMP response was reversed when the NO synthase substrate L-arginine was administered. It is concluded that cGMP collected during in vivo microdialysis reflects NO synthase activity in the rat hippocampus. The technique may be utilized to investigate the pathophysiology and the pharmacology of the NO/cGMP pathway in the hippocampus of living animals.

The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor/nitric oxide synthase/guanylate cyclase pathway was studied during aging by monitoring extracellular cGMP in the rat hippocampus and cerebellum during in vivo microdialysis. In the hippocampus the basal cGMP efflux decreased by 50% from 3 to 12 months of age, whereas it remained constant with age in the cerebellum. Locally perfused NMDA (1 mM) evoked remarkable cGMP responses in 3-month-old rats; in the hippocampus the cGMP production was already dramatically reduced at 12 months, whereas in the cerebellum a similar impairment occurred much later (24 months). The nitric oxide donor S-nitroso-N-penicillamine (1 mM) elicited cGMP responses which slightly decreased from 3 to 12-24 months in the hippocampus, while no significant decrement with age could be seen in the cerebellum. Local perfusion of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX, 1 mM) produced large increases in hippocampal cGMP levels. The response decreased at 12 and 24 months, apparently in parallel with the fall in the basal level of cGMP. No significant differences across ages were observed following IBMX infusion in the cerebellum. The decreases in basal outflow and in the NMDA-evoked cGMP response seen in the aged hippocampus were not compensated for by supplying L-arginine. Infusion of D-serine (1 mM) enhanced (150-200%) extracellular cGMP in the cerebellum with no age-related differences. The activity in vitro of hippocampal nitric oxide synthase at 24 months was 33% lower than at 3 months, whereas the cerebellar enzyme did not show any age-related decay.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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