Volume 16, Number 23,
Issue of December 1, 1996
pp. 7526-7532
Copyright ©1996 Society for Neuroscience
Atrial Natriuretic Peptide Modulates Synaptic Transmission from
Osmoreceptor Afferents to the Supraoptic Nucleus
Received Aug. 25, 1996; revised Sept. 17, 1996; accepted Sept. 18, 1996.
Dominique Richard and
Charles W. Bourque
Centre for Research in Neuroscience, Montreal General Hospital
Research Institute and McGill University, Montréal, Québec,
Canada H3G 1A4
Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and its receptors are present in
hypothalamic nuclei containing the magnocellular neurosecretory cells
(MNCs), which release vasopressin and oxytocin. In the rat, intracerebroventricular injections of ANP inhibit the release of both
hormones in response to hypertonicity. Although these findings suggest
a role for endogenous ANP in the central control of fluid balance,
cellular mechanisms underlying the modulatory actions of ANP are
unknown. We therefore examined the effects of ANP on the
osmoresponsiveness of MNCs impaled in rat hypothalamic explants.
Applications of ANP (75-150 nM) over the supraoptic nucleus did not affect depolarizing responses to local hypertonicity, but they reversibly abolished the synaptic excitation of MNCs after
hypertonic stimulation of the organum vasculosum laminae terminalis
(OVLT). These effects were associated with decreased spontaneous EPSP
(sEPSP) amplitude rather than with changes in sEPSP frequency.
Accordingly, application of ANP reduced the amplitude of glutamatergic
EPSPs evoked by electrical stimulation of the OVLT (IC50 ~ 3 nM). The inhibitory effects of ANP on EPSP amplitude were mimicked by application of 3
-5
-dibutyryl cGMP, consistent with
the guanylate cyclase activity of natriuretic peptide receptors. Although depolarizing responses of MNCs to ionotropic glutamate receptor agonists were unaffected by ANP, the peptide reversibly enhanced paired-pulse facilitation of electrically evoked EPSPs. These
results indicate that centrally released ANP may inhibit osmotically
evoked neurohypophysial hormone release through presynaptic inhibition
of glutamate release from osmoreceptor afferents derived from the
OVLT.
Key words:
atrial natriuretic peptide;
supraoptic nucleus;
OVLT;
organum vasculosum lamina terminalis;
osmoregulation;
vasopressin;
oxytocin;
osmoreceptor;
presynaptic inhibition