Alterations by Anesthetic Agents of the Responses of Rat Striatal Neurons to Iontophoretically Applied Amphetamine, Acetylcholine, Noradrenaline, and Dopamine

Abstract

The effect of two anesthetic agents, Penthrane and diallylbarbiturate (Dial, CIBA), was investigated on the responses of rat striatal neurons to iontophoretically applied noradrenaline (NA), dopamine (DA), acetylcholine (ACh), and d-amphetamine (d-Amph).At both high (50 mg/kg) and low (35 mg/kg) dose levels of Dial there was a highly significant [Formula: see text] change in the nature of the responses to all the substances tested. This change was primarily a decrease in the frequency of excitatory responses observed to catecholamine and ACh, compared with those observed under Penthrane.Although the dosage of Dial also affected the nature of the responses, it was to a much lesser degree; d-Amph responses were not affected and were almost purely inhibitory.Under both anesthetics, there was no evident correlation between the responses to d-amphetamine and to catecholamines.