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Volume 17, Number 3,
Issue of February 1, 1997
pp. 996-1003
Copyright ©1997 Society for Neuroscience
Actions of the ORL1 Receptor Ligand Nociceptin on
Membrane Properties of Rat Periaqueductal Gray Neurons In
Vitro
Received Sept. 30, 1996; revised Nov. 13, 1996; accepted Nov. 15, 1996.
Christopher W. Vaughan1, 2,
Susan L. Ingram1, and
MacDonald J. Christie1
Departments of 1 Pharmacology and 2 Anatomy
and Histology, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
The actions of the endogenous ORL1-receptor ligand
nociceptin on the membrane properties and synaptic currents in rat
periaqueductal gray (PAG) neurons were examined by the use of
whole-cell patch-clamp recording in brain slices. Nociceptin produced
an outward current in all neurons tested, with an EC50 of
39 ± 7 nM. The outward current was unaffected by
naloxone. Outward currents reversed polarity at 110 ± 3 mV in
2.5 mM extracellular potassium, and the reversal potential
increased when the extracellular potassium concentration was raised
(slope = 66.3 mV/log[K+]o
mM). Thus, the nociceptin-induced outward current was
attributable to an increased K+ conductance. Nociceptin
inhibited evoked fast GABAergic (IPSCs) and glutamatergic (EPSCs)
postsynaptic currents and increased paired-pulse facilitation in a
subpopulation of PAG neurons. Nociceptin inhibited evoked IPSCs and
EPSCs in ~50% of neurons throughout the PAG, except in the
ventrolateral PAG, where nociceptin inhibited evoked IPSCs in most
neurons. Nociceptin decreased the frequency of spontaneous miniature
postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs and mEPSCs) in a subpopulation of PAG
neurons but had no effect on their amplitude distributions. Thus,
nociceptin had a presynaptic inhibitory effect on transmitter release.
These findings suggest that nociceptin, via its pre- and postsynaptic
actions, has the potential to modulate the analgesic, behavioral, and
autonomic functions of the PAG.
Key words:
orphan receptor;
ORL1 receptor;
opioid
receptor;
nociceptin;
potassium channel;
presynaptic inhibition;
periaqueductal gray;
analgesia
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