Serotonin and carbachol induced suppression of synaptic responses in rat CA1 hippocampal area: effects of corticosteroid receptor activation in vivo.

Previous studies have shown that corticosteroids affect the changes in membrane potential evoked in CA1 hippocampal neurons by serotonin and the metabolically stable cholinergic analogue carbachol: Low corticosteroid levels induced by steroid administration to adrenalectomized rats or obtained in adrenally intact rats were associated with small transmitter responses. High corticosteroid levels induced by exogenous corticosteroid application or by an acute stress in adrenally intact rats generally evoked large transmitter responses. In the present study we investigated the consequences of this steroid modulation for the main stream of synaptic information in the CA1 hippocampal region, which is carried by amino acids. To this purpose the effect of serotonin and carbachol administration on both extracellularly and intracellularly recorded synaptic responses to Schaffer collateral stimulation were investigated. The data show that the effect of in vivo activation of corticosteroid receptors on the serotonin-induced hyperpolarization of the membrane responses is clearly reflected in the inhibitory effect of serotonin on synaptic responsiveness in the CA1 area. Low circulating levels of corticosterone or selective mineralocorticoid receptor activation reduced the serotonin mediated inhibition of synaptically evoked responses, whereas high corticosterone levels were associated with strong serotonin mediated suppression of synaptic responses. This steroid modulation seems to be specifically aimed at serotonin neurotransmission, as the cholinergic effects on excitatory synaptic transmission were not affected by the hormone treatment.