Inhibition of paraventricular neurons by subfornical organ and AV3V in cats.

The study was designed to examine, by electrophysiological techniques, influences of rostral periventricular structures on neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) in a large animal (the cat) in which stimulating and recording sites could be precisely identified. Extracellular single action potentials were recorded from the PVN in pentobarbital sodium-anesthetized and hemispherectomized cats. Of 246 neurons tested, 24-47% were inhibited and 9-21% were excited by electrical stimulation of the subfornical organ (SFO), the nucleus preopticus medianus (POMn), and the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT). The onset latencies of inhibition (19-26 ms) were shorter than those of excitation (28-80 ms). Responses of both neurosecretory and nonneurosecretory neurons were similar to the stimulation of all sites tested. Among these sites, the POMn had the strongest influence on the PVN in view of the proportion of the responsive neurons. Moreover, antidromically evoked action potentials in the PVN neurons (n = 10) were only observed after stimulation of the POMn. Chemical stimulation of POMn and SFO by microinjection of sodium glutamate (50-100 nl, 0.5 M) also inhibited 16 of 38 PVN cells; the remaining neurons were unaffected. These results suggest that activation of the POMn, OVLT, and the SFO neurons mainly inhibits the PVN neurons in the cat.