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Nitric oxide increases the spontaneous firing rate of rat medial vestibular nucleus neurons in vitro via a cyclic GMP‐mediated PKG‐independent mechanism
Author(s) -
Podda Maria Vittoria,
Marcocci Maria Elena,
Oggiano Leonardo,
D'Ascenzo Marcello,
Tolu Eusebio,
Palamara Anna Teresa,
Azzena Gian Battista,
Grassi Claudio
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2004.03674.x
Subject(s) - soluble guanylyl cyclase , chemistry , nitric oxide , medial vestibular nucleus , sodium nitroprusside , excitatory postsynaptic potential , cyclic nucleotide , biophysics , cgmp dependent protein kinase , protein kinase a , cyclic nucleotide gated ion channel , medicine , endocrinology , vestibular nuclei , neuroscience , biology , biochemistry , kinase , receptor , vestibular system , nucleotide , cyclic gmp , organic chemistry , gene , cyclin dependent kinase 2
The effects of nitric oxide (NO) on the discharge rate of medial vestibular nucleus neurons (MVNn) were investigated in rat brainstem slices. The NO‐donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP, 200 µ m ) caused a marked enhancement (+36.7%) of MVNn spontaneous firing rate, which was prevented by the NO‐scavenger, carboxy‐PTIO (300 µ m ). The SNP effects were not modified (+37.4%) by synaptic uncoupling, suggesting that NO influences intrinsic membrane properties of MVNn rather than the synaptic input they receive. The excitatory action of SNP was virtually abolished by slice pretreatment with the soluble guanylyl cyclase inhibitor, ODQ (10 µ m ), and it was mimicked (+33.1%) by the cGMP analogue 8‐Br‐cGMP (400 µ m ). Protein kinase G (PKG) and cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) were both excluded as downstream effectors of the NO/cGMP‐induced excitation. However, the cyclic nucleotide‐gated (CNG) channel blockers, l ‐ cis ‐diltiazem (LCD, 100 µ m ) and Sp‐8‐Br‐PET‐cGMPS (100 µ m ), significantly reduced the firing rate increase produced by 8‐Br‐cGMP. Moreover, LCD alone decreased spontaneous MVNn firing (−19.7%), suggesting that putative CNG channels may contribute to the tonic control of resting MVNn discharge. 8‐Br‐cAMP (1 m m ) also elicited excitatory effects in MVNn (+40.8%), which occluded those induced by 8‐Br‐cGMP, indicating that the two nucleotides share a common target. Finally, nested‐polymerase chain reaction assay revealed the expression of CNG channel α subunit transcript in MVNn. Our data provide the first demonstration that NO/cGMP signalling modulates MVNn spontaneous firing through a mechanism that is independent of PKG or PKA and probably involves activation of CNG channels.