Elsevier

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 109, Issue 3, 16 February 1990, Pages 287-292
Neuroscience Letters

Histamine depolarizes rat medial vestibular nucleus neurons recorded intracellularly in vitro

https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3940(90)90009-XGet rights and content

Abstract

The effects of histamine (HA) on the resting membrane potential and input resistance of rat medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) neurons were investigated using intracellular recording techniques from a submerged brain slice preparation. The exogenous application of HA predominantly produced a concentration-dependent membrane depolarization and induction of action potential firing. The depolarization exhibited a rapid onset, a slow recovery, and usually occurred in the absence of any apparent change in conductance. These effects of HA could be mimicked by the H2-agonist impromidine and were reversibly blocked by the H2-antagonist cimetidine. Tetrodotoxin (TTX) or low calcium/high magnesium-containing media failed to block completely the HA-induced depolarization supporting a direct postsynaptic receptor mediated action of HA. The diminished HA-induced depolarization observed following pretreatment with TTX cannot exclude an additional presynaptic action by HA. The present findings reveal that HA exerts a novel direct excitation of rat MVN neurons through an H2-receptor.

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Present address: K.D. Phelan, Department of Pharmacology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854-6435, U.S.A.

∗∗

Present address: J. Nakamura, Department of Physiology and Psychiatry, Kurume University School of Medicine, 67 Asahi-machi, Kurume-shi, 830, Japan

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