Oxytocin predominantly excites putative oxytocin neurons in the rat supraoptic nucleus in vitro.

To determine the oxytocin (OXT) sensitivity of neurons in the supraoptic nucleus (SON), extracellular recordings were made from the rat hypothalamic slice preparation. OXT added to the bathing medium (3 X 10(-7) M) excited 13 (93%) of 14 cells which fired continuously (average 4.9 +/- 0.7 spikes/s) and 26 (81%) of 32 cells which fired slowly and irregularly (average 1.4 +/- 0.4 spikes/s). By contrast, only 2 (8%) of 26 phasically firing neurons were excited and none of the SON cells tested were inhibited. The excitation was reversibly antagonized by a synthetic OXT analogue, 1-deamino-[2-(O-methyltyrosine), 4-valine, 8-D-arginine]vasopressin. The results suggest that OXT exerts predominantly excitatory effects in the SON and that putative OXT cells are more likely to be affected than putative vasopressin cells.