Differential effects of phospholipase inhibitors in long-term potentiation in the rat hippocampal mossy fiber synapses and Schaffer/commissural synapses.

Bath application of the inhibitors of phospholipases, nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) and p-bromo-phenacyl bromide (BPB), to the rat hippocampal slices suppressed long-term potentiation (LTP) in Schaffer/commissural-CA1 pyramidal synapses. On the other hand, neither of the two inhibitors suppressed LTP in mossy fiber-CA3 pyramidal cell synapses. BPB did not suppress phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) activity of the slices. These results suggested that the mechanisms of LTP were quite different in the CA1 and CA3 subfields of rat hippocampus: in CA1, the involvement of an arachidonate metabolism was strongly suggested, whereas in CA3, an arachidonic acid cascade may not be necessary for LTP.