Effects of monoamines on transmission from group II muscle afferents in sacral segments in the cat.

The effects of one 5-HT1A serotonin agonist (8-OH-DPAT) and of two alpha 2 noradrenaline agonists (tizanidine and B-HT 933) were tested on the transmission between group II muscle afferents and spinal neurons in the sacral segments of the spinal cord in the cat. These agonists have previously been found to depress transmission from group II muscle afferents either in the dorsal horn or in the intermediate zone of midlumbar segments, and this study addressed the question of whether their actions in the sacral segments are similarly selective. The drugs were applied ionophoretically and their effects were tested on field potentials evoked from group II muscle afferents. As judged by changes in the amplitude of the early components of these field potentials, the transmission is effectively depressed by the serotonin agonist (to 56 +/- 26% after 2 min of ionophoresis of 8-OH-DPAT) but not by the noradrenaline agonists (to 97 +/- 12% after 6 min of ionophoresis of B-HT 933 and to 95 +/- 17% after 6 min of ionophoresis of tizanidine). These data suggest that transmission from group II muscle spindle afferents in the sacral segments is under control of serotonin releasing neurons, as in the dorsal horn of midlumbar segments, but leave open the question of the similarities or differences in the mechanisms (pre- and/or postsynaptic) of this control.