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The effects of leucine-enkephalin on the membrane potential and activity of rat respiratory center neurons in vitro

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Abstract

Studies of transverse slices of Wistar rat brainstem using a patch clamp technique addressed the effects of the opioid peptide leucine-enkephalin (10 nM–1 μM) on the membrane potential and pattern of spontaneous activity of neurons in two parts of the respiratory center: the ventrolateral area of the solitary tract nucleus and the pre-Bötzinger complex. Leucine-enkephalin induced membrane hyperpolarization of respiratory center neurons and decreased the level of spike activity in spontaneously active cells. In pre-Bötzinger complex neurons showing a burst pattern of activity, leucine-enkephalin decreased the burst frequency, and two cells showed a transition from burst activity to tonic activity. These results provide evidence that the mechanism of the central respiratory activity of leucine-enkephalin results from its direct action on the membranes of respiratory center neurons.

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  1. Samara State University, 1 Academician Pavlov Street, 443011, Samara, Russia

    A. N. Inyushkin

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Translated from Rossiiskii Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 91, No. 6, pp. 656–665, June, 2005.

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Inyushkin, A.N. The effects of leucine-enkephalin on the membrane potential and activity of rat respiratory center neurons in vitro. Neurosci Behav Physiol 36, 573–579 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-006-0059-z

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