No abstract

Extracellular single-unit recording techniques were used to examine the rat globus pallidus (GP). In both locally anesthetized, paralyzed rats and ketamine-anesthetized rats, we observed two distinct biphasic extracellular waveforms, which we have labeled Type I (negative/positive waveform) and Type II (positive/negative waveform). No significant differences were observed in the firing pattern or number of cells per track between these cell types, although the Type II neurons had a faster mean firing rate in the locally anesthetized animals. A portion of both cell types could be antidromically activated from the subthalamic nucleus, although Type II neurons had significantly slower conduction velocities. The most striking pharmacological difference between the two cell types was that Type I GP neurons were inhibited by systemic administration of the dopamine agonist apomorphine; previous studies have repeatedly shown that Type II GP cells are excited by this treatment. Pretreatment with a subthreshold dose of apomorphine reduced the responsiveness of Type I cells to a subsequent high dose of apomorphine, as has been shown for Type II cells. However, pretreatment with the NMDA antagonist dizocilpine (MK801) produced a significant change in the pattern of response to apomorphine for Type II GP neurons only. Relative to observations in locally anesthetized, paralyzed rats, ketamine anesthesia reduced the firing rate of both cell types, but did not significantly alter their direction of response to apomorphine. Thus, this study has confirmed the existence of two GP cell types with distinct extracellular waveforms and different responses to dopamine receptor stimulation. These data may necessitate a reevaluation of general theoretical models of basal ganglia function in order to account for these opposite effects of dopamine receptor stimulation on pallidal output.

No abstract

Single-unit electrophysiological recording techniques were used to sample the basal activity of antidromically identified nigrostriatal and mesoaccumbens dopamine (NSDA and MADA, respectively) neurons and to examine the responsiveness of these cells to dopamine agonist-induced inhibition of cell firing rate in either chloral hydrate-anesthetized or paralyzed rats. Paralyzed rats exhibited a greater percentage of burst-firing cells (69%) than did anesthetized animals (37%). Furthermore, paralyzed rats were less sensitive to the mixed D1/D2 DA receptor agonist apomorphine and the selective D2 DA receptor agonist quinpirole. However, significantly higher doses of d-amphetamine were required in paralyzed animals only with respect to inhibiting MADA neurons. The abilities of apomorphine and quinpirole to inhibit NSDA cell firing were rate-dependent in both anesthetized and paralyzed rats, whereas d-amphetamine-induced inhibition was rate dependent only in anesthetized animals. In contrast, apomorphine- and quinpirole-induced inhibition of MADA neurons were rate-dependent only in anesthetized rats, whereas d-amphetamine-induced inhibition was rate-dependent only in paralyzed animals. These results suggest that general anesthesia exerts subtle effects on the basal activity and pharmacological responsiveness of midbrain dopamine neurons.