Regulatory role of nitric oxide over extracellular taurine in the hippocampus of freely moving rats

Virtually nothing is known about the activity of morphologically identified neurons in freely moving mammals. Here we describe stabilization and positioning techniques that allow juxtacellular recordings from labeled single neurons in awake, freely moving animals. This method involves the use of a friction-based device that allows stabilization of the recording pipette by friction forces. Friction is generated by a clamplike mechanism that tightens a sliding pipette holder to a preimplanted pipette guide. The interacting surfaces are smoothed to optical quality (<5-nm roughness) to enable micrometer stepping precision of the device during operation. Our method allows recordings from identified neurons in freely moving animals, and thus opens new perspectives for analyzing the role of identified neurons in the control of behavior.

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Role of GABAB receptors in the endomorphin-1-, but not endomorphin-2-, induced dopamine efflux in the nucleus accumbens of freely moving rats

European Journal of Pharmacology ◽

10.1016/j.ejphar.2007.12.008 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 581 (3) ◽

pp. 276-282 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Tadashi Saigusa ◽

Yuri Aono ◽

Naoko Mizoguchi ◽

Tomoyo Iwakami ◽

Koji Takada ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nucleus Accumbens ◽

Gabab Receptors ◽

Freely Moving Rats ◽

Freely Moving ◽

Dopamine Efflux

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Lack of central nitric oxide triggers erectile dysfunction in diabetes

AJP Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology ◽

10.1152/ajpregu.00429.2006 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 292 (3) ◽

pp. R1158-R1164 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Hong Zheng ◽

Keshore R. Bidasee ◽

William G. Mayhan ◽

Kaushik P. Patel

Keyword(s):

Nitric Oxide ◽

Diabetes Mellitus ◽

Erectile Dysfunction ◽

Diabetic Rats ◽

System Component ◽

The Central Nervous System ◽

Freely Moving ◽

Prior Administration ◽

Smooth Muscle Dysfunction

Erectile dysfunction is a serious and common complication of diabetes mellitus. The proposed mechanisms for erectile dysfunction in diabetes include central and autonomic neuropathy, endothelial dysfunction, and smooth muscle dysfunction. The paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus is known to be involved in centrally mediated penile erection. This study was designed to examine the role of nitric oxide (NO) within the central nervous system component of the behavioral responses including erection in diabetic rats. N-methyl-d-aspartic acid (NMDA)-induced erection, yawning, and stretch through the PVN can be blocked by prior administration of NO synthase (NOS) blocker, l-NMMA, in freely moving, conscious male normal rats. Four weeks after streptozotocin (STZ) and vehicle injections, NMDA-induced erection, yawning, and stretch responses through the PVN are significantly blunted in diabetic rats compared with control rats. Examination of neuronal NOS (nNOS) protein by Western blot analysis indicated a reduced amount of nNOS protein in the PVN of rats with diabetes compared with control rats. Furthermore, restoring nNOS within the PVN by gene transfer using adenoviral transfection significantly restored the erectile and yawning responses to NMDA in diabetic rats. These data demonstrate that a blunted NO mechanism within the PVN may contribute to NMDA-induced erectile dysfunction observed in diabetes mellitus.

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