Summary
Synaptic inputs from the nucleus accumbens (ACB) to neurosecretory cells of the supraoptic nucleus (SON) were studied in the rat. One hundred and twenty SON neurones responded antidromically to pituitary stalk stimulation and were identified as neurosecretory cells. Sixty-three of these cells were identified as vasopressin-secreting cells and 45 as oxytocin-secreting cells by their spontaneous firing patterns. About one half of the vasopressin-cells and two thirds of the oxytocin-cells were responsive to stimulation of the basal forebrain including the ACB. More vasopressin-cells were excited than were inhibited, and oxytocin-cells were mainly inhibited. Depth profile of effective stimulation sites in the basal forebrain revealed that ACB stimulation selectively produced the responses. Most of those SON neurones responsive to ACB stimulation also responded to septal stimulation. A positive correlation was observed between responses to ACB and septal stimulation in each unit. After septal lesion, the number of SON neurones which were responsive to ACB stimulation was significantly decreased. In two rats, a single SON unit was tested for ACB stimulation both before and after septal lesion, and the previously observed synaptic inputs were not seen after the lesion. Fifty septal neurones projecting to the area including the SON were antidromically identified after SON stimulation. About one half of these neurones were excited by ACB stimulation. These results demonstrate the existence of a neural pathway from the ACB to the SON and suggest that the pathway is mediated by septal neurones.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aulsebrook LH, Holland RC (1969) Central regulation of oxytocin release with and without vasopressin release. Am J Physiol 216: 818–829
Brimble MJ, Dyball RE (1977) Characterization of the responses of oxytocin- and vasopressin-secreting neurones in the supraoptic nucleus to osmotic stimulation. J Physiol (Lond) 271: 253–271
Fatt P (1957) Electric potentials occurring around a neurone during its antidromic activation. J Neurophysiol 20: 27–60
Harris MC, Dreifuss JJ, Legross JJ (1975) Excitation of phasically firing supraoptic neurones during vasopressin release. Nature 258: 80–82
Iijima K, Ogawa T (1981) An HRP study on the distribution of all nuclei innervating the supraoptic nucleus in the rat brain. Acta Histochem 69: 274–295
Iovino M, Poenaru S, Annunziato L (1983) Basal and thirstevoked vasopressin secretion in rats with electrolytic lesion of the medio-ventral septal area. Brain Res 258: 123–126
Kannan H, Yagi K (1978) Supraoptic neurosecretory neurones: evidence for the existence of converging inputs both from carotid baroreceptors and osmoreceptors. Brain Res 145: 385–390
Koikegami H, Hirata Y, Oguma J (1967) Studies on the paralimbic brain structures. I. Definition and delimitation of the paralimbic brain structures and some experiments on the nucleus accumbens. Folia Psychiatr Neurol Jpn 21: 151–180
Koizumi K, Kannan H, Ferreyra H (1981) Effects of limbic system stimulation on neurosecretory neurons of supraoptic nucleus. In: Stark E, Makara GB, Ács ZS, Endröczi E (eds) Endocrinology, neuroendocrinology, neuropeptides I. Adv Physiol Sci 13: 329–333. Académiai Kiadó, Budapest
Koizumi K, Yamashita H (1972) Studies of antidromically identified neurosecretory cells of the hypothalamus by intracellular and extracellular recordings. J Physiol (Lond) 221: 683–705
König JFR, Klippel RA (1963) The rat brain. A stereotaxic atlas of the forebrain and lower parts of the brain stem. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore
Lebrun CJ, Poulain DA (1982) Electrical activity of septal neurones during suckling and the milk ejection reflex in the lactating rat. Exp Brain Res 47: 203–208
Nauta WJH, Smith GP, Faul RLM, Domesick VB (1978) Efferent connections and nigral afferents of the nucleus accumbens septi in the rat. Neuroscience 3: 385–401
Negoro H, Visessuwan S, Holland RC (1973) Inhibition and excitation of units in paraventricular nucleus after stimulation of the septum, amygdala and neurohypophysis. Brain Res 57: 479–483
Pittman QJ, Blume HW, Renaud LP (1981) Connections of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus with the neurohypophysis, median eminence, amygdala, lateral septum and midbrain periaqueductal gray: an electrophysiological study in the rat. Brain Res 215: 15–28
Poulain DA, Ellendorff F, Vincent JD (1980) Septal connections with identified oxytocin and vasopressin neurones in the supraoptic nucleus of the rat. An electrophysiological investigation. Neuroscience 5: 379–387
Poulain DA, Lebrun CJ, Vincent JD (1981) Electrophysiological evidence for connections between septal neurones and the supraoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus of the rat. Exp Brain Res 42: 260–268
Poulain DA, Wakerley JB, Dyball REJ (1977) Electrophysiological differentiation of oxytocin- and vasopressin-secreting neurones. Proc R Soc Lond [Biol] 196: 367–384
Powell EW, Leman RB (1976) Connections of the nucleus accumbens. Brain Res 105: 389–403
Powell EW, Rorie DK (1967) Septal projections to nuclei functioning in oxytocin release. Am J Anat 120: 605–610
Smith MO, Holland RC (1975) Effects of lesions of the nucleus accumbens on lactation and postpartum behavior. Physiol Psychol 3: 331–336
Swanson LW, Mogenson GJ (1981) Neural mechanisms for the functional coupling of autonomic endocrine and somatomotor responses in adaptive behavior. Brain Res Rev 3: 1–34
Urban I, Moss RL, Cross BA (1971) Problems in electrical stimulation of afferent pathways for oxtocin release. J Endocrinol 51: 347–358
Wakerley JB, Lincoln DW (1973) The milk-ejection reflex of the rat: A 20-to 40-fold acceleration in the firing of paraventricular neurones during oxytocin release. J Endocrinol 57: 477–493
Wakerley JB, Poulain DA, Dyball REJ, Cross BA (1975) Activity of phasic neurosecretory cells during haemorrhage. Nature 258: 82–84
Woods WH, Holland RC, Powell EW (1969) Connections of cerebral structures functioning in neurohypophysial hormone release. Brain Res 12: 26–46
Yamashita H (1977) Effect of baro- and chemoreceptor activation on supraoptic nuclei neurons in the hypothalamus. Brain Res 126: 551–556
Záborszky L, Léránth CS, Makara GB, Palkovits M (1975) Quantitative studies on the supraoptic nucleus in the rat. II. Afferent fiber connections. Exp Brain Res 22: 525–540
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by grant no. 57770111 from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shibuki, K. Supraoptic neurosecretory cells: Synaptic inputs from the nucleus accumbens in the rat. Exp Brain Res 53, 341–348 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00238164
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00238164