Excitatory amino acid receptor-mediated transmission of somatosensory evoked potentials in the rat thalamus.

1. To examine the role of excitatory amino acid receptors in the rat ventrobasal thalamic nucleus (v.b.t.n.) for the transmission of cortical somatosensory evoked potentials (s.e.p.s), potentials were recorded from the somatosensory cortex of barbiturate-anaesthetized and of unanaesthetized awake rats. The effects of microapplications of the selective N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist (-)-2-amino-7-phosphono-heptanoate ((-)AP7) and the broad-spectrum excitatory amino acid antagonist 1-(p-chlorobenzoyl)-piperazine-2,3-dicarboxylate (pCB-PzDA) into the thalamus on the amplitudes and latencies of cortical potentials were measured. 2. To define the receptor specificity of local microinjections of (-)AP7 and pCB-PzDA electroencephalogram (e.e.g.) recordings were made from the immediate vicinity of the injection cannula within the thalamus. (-)AP7 selectively antagonized epileptic discharges induced by NMDA, but not those by kainate, whereas pCB-PzDA antagonized epileptic discharges induced by both. 3. In both anaesthetized and unanaesthetized rats, microapplications of pCB-PzDA into the thalamus suppressed transmission of cortical potentials as indicated by a decrease of their amplitudes and an increase of their peak latencies. Further experiments in anaesthetized rats showed that pCB-PzDA exerted its effects in a dose-dependent and site-specific way. 4. In both anaesthetized and unanaesthetized rats, microapplications of (-)AP7 into the ventrobasal thalamus did not affect cortical potentials. 5. These results are consistent with the assumption that an excitatory amino acid serves as transmitter at thalamic synapses mediating transmission of cortical potentials, and that this transmitter interacts preferentially with non-NMDA receptors.