Scripps VIVO scripps research logo

  • Index
  • Log in
  • Home
  • People
  • Organizations
  • Research
  • Events
Search form

Neurosteroid regulation of inhibitory synaptic transmission in the rat hippocampus in vitro

Academic Article
uri icon
  • Overview
  • Research
  • Identity
  • Additional Document Info
  • View All
scroll to property group menus

Overview

authors

  • Meyer, J. H.
  • Lee, S.
  • Wittenberg, G. F.
  • Randall, R. D.
  • Gruol, Donna

publication date

  • 1999

journal

  • Neuroscience  Journal

abstract

  • The effect of the neurosteroid dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate on inhibitory synaptic transmission was studied in area CA1 of the rat hippocampus using an in vitro hippocampal slice preparation. Synaptic responses elicited by stimulation of Schaffer collateral fibers were recorded extracellularly as population spikes in the somatic region and as synaptic field potentials in the dendritic region. Bath application of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (10 microM) enhanced the synaptically evoked somatic population spike with no effect on the dendritic synaptic potential. Isolation of the alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate receptor-mediated component of the synaptic response by addition of antagonists of N-methyl-D-aspartate and GABA receptors to the perfusion saline demonstrated that dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate had no effect on this component of the dendritic synaptic potential. In contrast, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate antagonized GABA receptor-mediated inhibitory effects in the somatic region, resulting in an augmentation of the somatic population spike amplitude. Paired-pulse facilitation was unaltered by dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, thus arguing against possible presynaptic sites of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate's actions. These results indicate that dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate can alter synaptic transmission in the hippocampus through selective postsynaptic actions on inhibitory synaptic transmission. A synaptic effect of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate is consistent with a neuromodulatory role for this neurosteroid in the central nervous system, and may contribute to the reported effects of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate on cognitive processes such as learning and memory.

subject areas

  • Animals
  • Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate
  • Dendrites
  • Electrophysiology
  • Evoked Potentials
  • Female
  • Hippocampus
  • In Vitro Techniques
  • Male
  • Neural Inhibition
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Synapses
  • Synaptic Transmission
scroll to property group menus

Research

keywords

  • AMPA
  • GABA(A)
  • dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate
  • hippocampus
  • neurosteroid
  • synaptic response
scroll to property group menus

Identity

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0306-4522

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/s0306-4522(98)00543-0

PubMed ID

  • 10338288
scroll to property group menus

Additional Document Info

start page

  • 1177

end page

  • 1183

volume

  • 90

issue

  • 4

©2019 The Scripps Research Institute | Terms of Use | Powered by VIVO

  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Support