Iontophoretically applied dopamine depolarizes and hyperpolarizes the membrane of cat caudate neurons.

Dopamine (DA) was applied iontophoretically on intracellularly recorded cat caudate neurons. Ejected approximately 100 micrometers away from the cell soma, it caused slow depolarizations of the membrane while the ongoing firing rate was reduced. This last effect was not due to sodium inactivation. Cortically evoked EPSP-IPSP sequences were inhibited during the depolarizations. The latency of cortically evoked action potentials was consistently increased during DA-ejections. These effects were blocked by fluphenazine, relatively selective blocker of the DA-sensitive adenylate cyclase. Nevertheless, there are serious doubts as to the specificity of these actions of DA as a number of other substances like naloxone, nicotine, acetylcholine or glutamate-diethylester occasionally had very similar effects on membrane potential, firing rate and cortically evoked EPSP-IPSP sequences. If DA was applied nearer to the soma, approximately 50 micrometers away, 70% of the recorded neurons continued to display the slow depolarizations above described, while 30% of the cells now reacted by a hyperpolarization accompanied also by a reduced firing rate. If DA was applied for prolonged periods on such cells, the initial hyperpolarization was followed by the slow depolarization. The observation that during the slow depolarization there is a decrease in firing rate and amplitude of the cortically evoked IPSP is explained by the assumption that the region of the axon hillock is hyperpolarized by DA, and that the slow depolarization is a phenomenon restricted to the distant recording site and possibly to the dendritic region. None of the 74 responsive neurons displayed an increased firing fate when DA was ejected either continuously, i.e. for more than 5 sec, or in short pulses of 50--500 msec.