Dopaminergic influence on the excitability of antidromically activated Renshaw cells in the lumbar spinal cord of the rat

Abstract

The interaction between dopaminergic and cholinergic systems in the mammalian central nervous system, which is thought to have important implications in the pathophysiology of major extrapyramidal disorders, has never been adequately demonstrated in vivo. Renshaw cell burst responses to single electrical shocks to lumbar ventral roots in spinalized and decerebrated rats were studied. In this monosynaptic cholinergic pathway, apomorphine, a dopaminergic receptor agonist, inhibited whereas the D2-antagonist sulpiride facilitated the burst responses. The mutual antagonism of the two drugs and the depression coupled with the faster decay of post-tetanic potentiation of Renshaw cells by apomorphine demonstrate the involvement of presynaptic D2-receptors through which dopamine can modulate acetylcholine-mediated central synaptic transmission in vivo. The study also provides further evidence for the involvement of the spinal cord in extrapyramidal disorders.