Chronic treatment with lithium or desipramine alters discharge frequency and norepinephrine responsiveness of cerebellar Purkinje cells.

Cerebellar Purkinje cells were studied by electrophysiological techniques in rats treated chronically with either desipramine (DMI) or lithium chloride given intragastrically. A striking decrement occurred in discharge frequencies of simple spikes and climbing fiber bursts in both groups of animals, similar to the depression produced by iontophoresis of these agents. Chronic treatment with DMI markedly decreased responsiveness to iontophoretically applied norepinephrine (NE), whereas long-term LiCl therapy slightly enhanced response to NE; responses to gamma-aminobutyric acid were unchanged by these treatments. The inhibitory responses to locus ceruleus stimulation were unaffected by chronic LiCl treatment. The effects of these chronic treatments on responsiveness to NE are opposite to the effects these same drugs produce when administered by acute iontophoresis to single cells: DMI then potentiates and LiCl antagonizes noradrenergic responses. These results provide electrophysiological evidence for reciprocal adaptive changes in NE sensitivity, supporting results of biochemical studies.