A new mechanism of action of vasopressin on neuron membranes

Abstract

The injection of subconvulsive doses of pentylenetetrazol (corazol, 10 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) leads to the appearance of a complex of the emotional-behavioral disturbances in rats which consists of three main syndromes: anxiety, pathologically enhanced fear and inactivation state. Each of syndromes is characterized, by a particular pattern of electrical activity (EA) recorded from brain structures. The bursts of EA (10-11 oscillations per s) with maximum amplitude and duration in locus coeruleus (LC) correspond to the syndrome of anxiety. The wave EA of a frequency coincident with a frequency of rat respiration corresponds to the syndrome of pathologically enhanced fear. The appearance of spindle-like EA (6 oscillations per s) in striatum (STR) corresponds to the syndrome of inactivation state. The amplitude and duration of generalized spindle-like EA are maximum in STR. The change from anxiety to inactivation state is accompanied by the change of corresponding EA patterns. It can be suggested that the injection of subconvulsive doses of pentylenetetrazol in rats leads to LC and STR hyperactivation because of which LC and STR acquired the properties of a pathological determinant whose appearance induces the formation of pathological systems with corresponding clinical manifestations. The relationship between the systems created by LC and STR hyperactivation is of antagonistic character.