Pyramidal neurons in rat prefrontal cortex show a complex synaptic response to single electrical stimulation of the locus coeruleus region: evidence for antidromic activation and GABAergic inhibition using in vivo intracellular recording and electron microscopy.

Cognition and acquisition of novel motor skills and responses to emotional stimuli are thought to involve complex networking between pyramidal and local GABAergic neurons in the prefrontal cortex. There is increasing evidence for the involvement of cortical norepinephrine (NE) deriving from the nucleus locus coeruleus (LC) in these processes, with possible reciprocal influence via descending projections from the prefrontal cortex to the region of the LC. We used in vivo intracellular recording in rat prefrontal cortex to determine the synaptic responses of individual neurons to single electrical stimulation of the mesencephalic region including the nucleus LC. The most common response consisted of a late-IPSP alone or preceded by an EPSP. The presence of an early-IPSP following the EPSP was sometimes detected. Analysis of the voltage dependence revealed that the late-IPSP and early-IPSP were putative K⁺- and Cl⁻ dependent, respectively. Synaptic events occurred following short delays and were inconsistent with the previously reported time for electrical activation of unmyelinated LC fibers. Moreover, systemic injection of the adrenergic antagonists propranolol (β receptors), or prazosin (α1 receptors), did not block synaptic responses to stimulation of the LC region. Finally, certain neurons were antidromically activated following electrical stimulation of this region of the dorsal pontine tegmentum. Taken together, these results suggest that the complex synaptic events in pyramidal neurons of the prefrontal cortex that are elicited by single electrical stimulation of the LC area are mainly due to antidromic activation of cortical efferents.

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