Electrophysiological characteristic of corticoaccumbens synapses in rat mesolimbic system reconstructed using organotypic slice cultures

• Published in: Brain research 2004-07, Vol.1015 (1), p.34-40
• Main Authors: Maeda, Takehiko, Fukazawa, Yohji, Shimizu, Norifumi, Ozaki, Masanobu, Yamamoto, Hiroyuki, Kishioka, Shiroh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cocaine; Dopamine; Dopamine Agents - pharmacology; Drug addictions; Electric Stimulation; Electrophysiology; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists - pharmacology; Medical sciences; Multi-electrode dish; Neural Pathways - anatomy & histology; Neural Pathways - drug effects; Neural Pathways - physiology; Neurites - drug effects; Neurites - physiology; Nucleus accumbens; Nucleus Accumbens - cytology; Nucleus Accumbens - drug effects; Nucleus Accumbens - physiology; Organ Culture Techniques; Prefrontal cortex; Prefrontal Cortex - cytology; Prefrontal Cortex - drug effects; Prefrontal Cortex - physiology; Rats; Synaptic Transmission - drug effects; Synaptic Transmission - physiology; Toxicology; Ventral tegmental area; Ventral Tegmental Area - cytology; Ventral Tegmental Area - physiology
• ISSN: 0006-8993; 1872-6240
• DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2004.04.033

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is a component of the mesolimbic system involved in drug dependence. Activity of nucleus accumbens neurons is modulated by glutamatergic afferents from the prefrontal cortex and by dopaminergic afferents from the ventral tegmental area (VTA). In the present study, we reconstructed the mesolimbic system using organotypic slice cultures and examined the effects of dopaminergic agents on synaptic activity in the prefrontal cortex-nucleus accumbens synapses. A slice of each of the prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area in newborn rat, was arranged on a multi-electrode dish (MED) filled with culture medium so that they contacted each other, termed a ‘triple culture’. Extracellular recording using microelectrodes on the multi-electrode dish showed that a single electrical stimulation of the prefrontal cortex slice evoked field excitatory postsynaptic potential, and that population spikes occurred spontaneously in the nucleus accumbens area of the triple culture. The amplitude of evoked field excitatory postsynaptic potentials and the frequency of spontaneous population spikes were decreased by glutamatergic antagonists, d(−)-2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid and 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione. The D 1-like receptor agonist SKF38393, but not the D 2-like receptor agonist quinpirole, reduced both the amplitude of field excitatory postsynaptic potential and frequency of spontaneous population spikes. Cocaine depressed field excitatory postsynaptic potential and this depression was reversed by D 1-like receptor antagonist SCH23390, but not by D 2-like receptor antagonist sulpiride. These results suggest that evoked field excitatory postsynaptic potentials and spontaneous population spikes were driven by glutamatergic neurons and were subject to exogenous and endogenous dopaminergic modulation in the triple culture that was similar to that shown in in vivo.