Excitation of cells in the rostral medial medulla of the rat by the nitric oxide-cyclic guanosine monophosphate messenger system.

Analgesia has been reported to be facilitated by supraspinal nitric oxide (NO) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). In the rostromedial medulla, an important pain-suppressing region, iontophoretically delivered 8-bromo-cGMP excited most single recorded cells (9/10), and methylene blue (a guanylyl cyclase inhibitor) inhibited all cells (7/7). Nitrite and ferrous ions together, shown voltammetrically ex vivo to yield nitric oxide (NO), excited some cells (14/28) and inhibited others (7/28). Methylene blue blocked excitation (3/3) but not inhibition (4/4) by the putative NO. Spontaneous or glutamate-evoked firing was gradually inhibited (23/32) or unaffected by N omega-nitro-L-arginine (a NO synthase inhibitor), but was mostly inhibited by L-arginine (the NO precursor) (23/26), although a rapid onset militated against elevated NO production. These substances, excepting L-arginine, produced changes consistent with an excitatory cGMP-NO cascade contributing to analgesia.