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NMDA-Dependent Increases in Extracellular Arginine Levels in the Nucleus Accumbens Are Mediated by Activation of No Synthase

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Intracerebral microdialysis studies with HPLC in Sprague–Dawley rats showed that administration of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA, 10, 100, and 1000 μM), an NMDA glutamate receptor agonist, into the nucleus accumbens by dialysis infusion was found to induce dose-dependent increases in extracellular arginine (the substrate of NO synthase) levels in this structure. These increases were prevented by administration of the NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist MK-801 (50 μM) into the nucleus accumbens and were significantly reduced on the background of administration of the NO synthase inhibitor N-nitroarginine (500 μM) into this structure. These data show that the extracellular arginine level in the nucleus accumbens is controlled by NMDA glutamate receptors, whole involvement is partially mediated by activation of NO synthase in this area of the brain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. I. P. Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 6 Makarov Bank, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia

    N. B. Saulskaya & A. I. Gorbachevskaya

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  1. N. B. Saulskaya
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  2. A. I. Gorbachevskaya
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Correspondence to N. B. Saulskaya.

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Translated from Rossiiskii Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 96, No. 4, pp. 419–425, April, 2010.

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Saulskaya, N.B., Gorbachevskaya, A.I. NMDA-Dependent Increases in Extracellular Arginine Levels in the Nucleus Accumbens Are Mediated by Activation of No Synthase. Neurosci Behav Physi 41, 828–832 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-011-9493-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-011-9493-7

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