Paraventricular nucleus neuronal responses following electrical stimulation of the midbrain dorsal raphe: evidence for cotransmission.

In order to determine the responses of paraventricular nucleus neurones following activation of central serotonergic pathways, single unit activity was recorded and responses following electrical stimulation of the midbrain dorsal raphe nucleus were examined. Excitation was recorded from approximately 50% of the cells, independent of whether they were antidromically identified as projecting to the median eminence or unidentified. Approximately 20% of cells were inhibited by the stimulation, the majority of these being unidentified. Parachlorophenylalanine-induced inhibition of serotonin synthesis reduced hypothalamic serotonin levels by 77% and caused a significant reduction in the proportion of cells excited by the stimulation, whereas the inhibitory responses were not affected. Intracerebroventricular administration of the serotonergic neurotoxin, 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine, which caused similar reductions in hypothalamic serotonin content (77%), reduced still further the proportion of excitatory responses and also reduced the proportion of cells inhibited by the stimulation. The data obtained suggest that serotonin acts as an excitatory neurotransmitter in the paraventricular nucleus; this is discussed particularly with respect to the regulation of the hypothalamo-hypophysial-adrenocortical axis. The loss of inhibitory responses in 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine treated, as opposed to the parachlorophenylalanine treated, animals suggests that the serotonergic fibers innervating the recorded cells may contain a cosecreted substance that may have important physiological actions in the control of neuronal activity in the region recorded.