Chronic desipramine treatment selectively potentiates somatostatin-induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens.

Dopamine and somatostatin have been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. We have employed in vivo microdialysis to investigate the regulation of dopamine release by somatostatin in the nucleus accumbens and the striatum of awake, freely moving rats, and to ascertain how this regulation may be affected by desipramine treatment. Somatostatin-14 (10(-4) M) infusion induced an increase in the release of dopamine and a decrease in the release of its metabolites in both the nucleus accumbens (568% of basal) and the striatum (546% of basal). Chronic desipramine treatment resulted in an exaggerated somatostatin-induced increase of dopamine levels, specifically in the nucleus accumbens (3542% compared with 564% of basal in the striatum), whereas acute desipramine treatment had no effect (582% of basal) compared with saline treated rats. Basal concentrations of dopamine and metabolites were not influenced by either chronic or acute treatment of desipramine in either brain area. These results demonstrate that somatostatin regulates dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens and the striatum. Chronic antidepressant treatment influences somatostatin's actions on dopamine function selectively in the nucleus accumbens.