Rat hippocampal lactate efflux during electroconvulsive shock or stress is differently dependent on entorhinal cortex and adrenal integrity.

The role of the entorhinal cortex and the adrenal gland in rat hippocampal lactate formation was assessed during and after a short-lasting immobilization stress and electroconvulsive shock (ECS). Extracellular lactate was measured on-line using microdialysis and enzyme reactions (a technique named lactography); in some rats, unilateral lesions of the entorhinal cortex were made or the bilateral adrenal glands were removed. The stress-evoked increase in hippocampus lactate was not altered either ipsi- or contralateral to an entorhinal cortex lesion. The response to ECS was attenuated only in the hippocampus ipsilateral to the entorhinal cortex lesion. Removal of bilateral adrenal glands caused some delay in the increase in hippocampal lactate after ECS and a major reduction in the stress-evoked lactate response. These results indicate that (1) the entorhinal cortex is activated by ECS, thereby activating hippocampal lactate efflux and presumably metabolism, and (2) the adrenal gland is essential in the response to stress and, to a minor extent, in the ECS-altered hippocampal metabolism.