The effects of amphetamine and pilocarpine on the release of ascorbic and uric acid in several rat brain areas

Dual asymmetric-flow microdialysis for in vivo monitoring of brain neurochemicals

Microdialysis is an extensively used technique for both in vivo and in vitro experiments, applicable to animal and human studies. In neurosciences, the in vivo microdialysis is usually performed to follow changes in the extracellular levels of substances and to monitor neurotransmitters release in the brain of freely moving animals. Catecholamines, such as dopamine and their related compounds, are involved in the neurochemistry and in the physiology of mental diseases and neurological disorders. It is generally supposed that the brain's energy requirement is supplied by glucose oxidation. More recently, lactate was proposed to be the metabolic substrate used by neurons during synaptic activity. In our study, an innovative microdialysis approach for simultaneous monitoring of catecholamines, indolamines, glutamate and energy substrates in the striatum of freely moving rats, using an asymmetric perfusion flow rate on microdialysis probe, is described. As a result of this asymmetric perfusion, two samples are available from the same brain region, having the same analytes composition but different concentrations. The asymmetric flow perfusion could be a useful tool in neurosciences studies related to brain's energy requirement, such as toxin-induced models of Parkinson's disease.

On the mechanism of d-amphetamine-induced changes in glutamate, ascorbic acid and uric acid release in the striatum of freely moving rats

1. The effects of systemic, intrastriatal or intranigral administration of d-amphetamine on glutamate, aspartate, ascorbic acid (AA), uric acid, dopamine (DA), dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), homovanillic acid (HVA) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) concentrations in dialysates from the striatum of freely-moving rats were evaluated using microdialysis. 2. d-Amphetamine (2 mg kg-1) given subcutaneously (s.c.) increased DA, AA and uric acid and decreased DOPAC + HVA, glutamate and aspartate dialysate concentrations over a 3 h period after d-amphetamine. 5-HIAA concentrations were unaffected. Individual changes in glutamate and AA dialysate concentrations were negatively correlated. 3. d-Amphetamine (0.2 mM), given intrastriatally, increased DA and decreased DOPAC + HVA and aspartate dialysate concentrations, but failed to change those of glutamate, AA uric acid or 5-HIAA, over a 2 h period after d-amphetamine. Haloperidol (0.1 mM), given intrastriatally, increased aspartate concentrations without affecting those of glutamate or AA. 4. d-Amphetamine (0.2 mM), given intranigrally, increased AA and uric acid dialysate concentrations and decreased those of glutamate, aspartate and DA; DOPAC + HVA and 5-HIAA concentrations were unaffected. 5. These results suggest that d-amphetamine-induced increases in AA and uric acid and decreases in glutamate concentrations are triggered at nigral sites. The changes in aspartate levels may be evoked by at least two mechanisms: striatal (mediated by inhibitory dopaminergic receptors) and nigral (activation of amino acid carrier-mediated uptake).

Quantitative in vivo measurements using microdialysis on-line with capillary zone electrophoresis

A system which couples microdialysis with capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) on-line is used to monitor ascorbate and lactate in the caudate nucleus of rat brain. On-line interface of microdialysis probe and electrophoresis capillary, along with the high mass sensitivity of CZE, allows the probe to be operated at flow rates as low as 40 nl/min. Under these conditions, the relative recovery is nearly 100% and quantitative monitoring is possible. The microscale system also facilitates calibration by the low flow rate method. In spite of the low flow rate, temporal resolution in the 45-125 s range is possible for these compounds. The system is demonstrated by observing changes in ascorbate due to infusions of elevated K+ through the dialysis probe and systemic injections of amphetamine and an anesthetic (ketamine/xylazine/acepromazine mixture). Lactate is monitored in response to elevated K+ infusions.

Ascorbate potentiates amphetamine-induced conditioned place preference and forebrain dopamine release in rats

In order to evaluate the effects of ascorbate, which is known to modulate dopamine neurotransmission, on the reinforcing effects of amphetamine, we coadministered ascorbate and amphetamine during the acquisition of conditioned place preference (CPP) in rats. Our results indicate that 100 mg/kg ascorbate potentiates the CPP induced by 0.5 mg/kg, but not 1.0 mg/kg, amphetamine. A higher dose of ascorbate (500 mg/kg) did not influence the CPP induced by either dose of amphetamine. In vitro release assays revealed that, whereas ascorbate alone (0.01-1.0 mM) did not influence striatal dopamine levels, this vitamin potentiated amphetamine-induced dopamine release in both the nucleus accumbens and neostriatum. Collectively, these results raise the possibility that ascorbate potentiates amphetamine-induced CPP by increasing the ability of this psychostimulant to release dopamine.

Effects of cocaine and the cocaine analog CFT on glutamatergic neurons

The effects of cocaine and the cocaine analog methyl-3-beta-(p-fluorophenyl)-1 alpha H, 5 alpha H-tropane-2b-carboxylate (CFT) on glutamate turnover rate were studied in the nucleus accumbens, striatum, frontal cortex, and parietal-cingulate cortex of the rat, using neurotransmitter turnover rate as an estimate of the activity of the glutamatergic neurons. Both cocaine [15 or 30 mg/kg, intraperitoneally (IP)] and CFT (2.2 mg/kg, IP) increased glutamate turnover in the nucleus accumbens, although the time course of their actions differed. These effects on glutamate turnover appeared at times after maximal motor activation of the animals had occurred. On the other hand, neither cocaine nor CFT affected glutamate turnover in the frontal cortex, parietal-cingulate cortex, or striatum. Neither cocaine nor CFT affected the content of glutamate or glucose in any brain region studied. Thus, although cocaine and CFT affect glutamatergic neurons in the CNS, these actions are not generalized across the CNS, but are restricted to a specific brain region.

Ascorbic acid and atypical antipsychotic drugs: modulation of amineptine-induced behavior in mice

To provide a detailed characterization of individual kinds of behavior produced by ascorbic acid in combination with typical (haloperidol) or atypical (clozapine, sulpiride and remoxipride) antipsychotic drugs, the 'open-field' test was selected. Amineptine, an indirect dopamine agonist, was used as an explicit model of dopaminergic activity. Results showed that amineptine (5-10-20 mg/kg i.p.), dose-dependently, increased ambulation and rearing. Ascorbic acid (62.5-125-250 mg/kg i.p.) markedly inhibited the behavior of mice as well as the amineptine-induced hyperactivity. A combination of each typical or atypical antipsychotic drug (except clozapine 2.5 mg/kg i.p.) with amineptine (20 mg/kg i.p.) induced a significant increase in ambulation and rearing over that seen with the antipsychotic drugs alone. The combination of antipsychotic drugs with ascorbic acid 250 mg/kg i.p. led to a decrease in open-field parameters when compared with controls. In conclusion, these data provide further in vivo support for the effect of ascorbic acid on dopaminergic system and demonstrate that the antidopaminergic effects of both typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs may be enhanced with concurrent administration of ascorbic acid.

Cortical ablation and drug-induced changes in striatal ascorbic acid oxidation and behavior in the rat

Rats whose frontoparietal cortex had been bilaterally ablated were allowed 21 days for recovery and then treated with apomorphine (APO), 1 mg/kg SC or scopolamine (SCOP), 0.6 mg/kg SC. Soon after a behavioral test, dopamine (DA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), ascorbic acid (AA), and dehydroascorbic acid (DHAA) levels were determined by HPLC/EC in striatal synaptosomes (left side) and whole striatum (right side). SCOP behavioural effects were attenuated by cortical ablation, while those of APO were affected to a lesser extent. In the striatum of unoperated and sham-operated rats DHAA contents and DHAA/AA ratio resulted increased after drugs administration. No change in AA oxidation was observed in the striatum of ablated rats. In the synaptosomes of unoperated and sham-operated rats both drugs led to a decrease in DHAA contents and DHAA/AA ratio. In unoperated and sham-operated rats APO and SCOP caused a decrease of the DOPAC/DA ratio in the whole striatum and striatal synaptosomes. In ablated rats APO caused a decrease of DOPAC/DA ratio in the whole striatum and synaptosomes, while SCOP effects on DA turnover resulted attenuated in the whole striatum and abolished in synaptosomes. We conclude that drug-induced AA oxidation is likely to occur in the extracellular space and requires intact corticostriatal glutamatergic pathways. The latter may play an enabling role in SCOP behavioral effects.

A vitamin as neuromodulator: ascorbate release into the extracellular fluid of the brain regulates dopaminergic and glutamatergic transmission

Ascorbate is an antioxidant vitamin that the brain accumulates from the blood supply and maintains at a relatively high concentration under widely varying conditions. Although neurons are known to use this vitamin in many different chemical and enzymatic reactions, only recently has sufficient evidence emerged to suggest a role for ascorbate in interneuronal communication. Ascorbate is released from glutamatergic neurons as part of the glutamate reuptake process, in which the high-affinity glutamate transporter exchanges ascorbate for glutamate. This heteroexchange process, which also may occur in glial cells, ensures a relatively high level of extracellular ascorbate in many forebrain regions. Ascorbate release is regulated, at least in part, by dopaminergic mechanisms, which appear to involve both the D1 and D2 family of dopamine receptors. Thus, amphetamine, GBR-12909, apomorphine, and the combined administration of D1 and D2 agonists all facilitate ascorbate release from glutamatergic terminals in the neostriatum, and this effect is blocked by dopamine receptor antagonists. Even though the neostriatum itself contains a high concentration of dopamine receptors, the critical site for dopamine-mediated ascorbate release in the neostriatum is the substantia nigra. Intranigral dopamine regulates the activity of nigrothalamic efferents, which in turn regulate thalamocortical fibers and eventually the glutamatergic corticoneostriatal pathway. In addition, neostriatonigral fibers project to nigrothalamic efferents, completing a complex multisynaptic loop that plays a major role in neostriatal ascorbate release. Although extracellular ascorbate appears to modulate the synaptic action of dopamine, the mechanisms underlying this effect are unclear. Evidence from receptor binding studies suggests that ascorbate alters dopamine receptors either as an allosteric inhibitor or as an inducer of iron-dependent lipid peroxidation. The applicability of these studies to dopamine receptor function, however, remains to be established in view of reports that ascorbate can protect against lipid peroxidation in vivo. Nevertheless, ample behavioral evidence supports an antidopaminergic action of ascorbate. Systemic, intraventricular, or intraneostriatal ascorbate administration, for example, attenuates the behavioral effects of amphetamine and potentiates the behavioral response to haloperidol. Some of these behavioral effects, however, may be dose-dependent in that treatment with relatively low doses of ascorbate has been reported to enhance dopamine-mediated behaviors. Ascorbate also appears to modulate glutamatergic transmission in the neostriatum. In fact, by facilitating glutamate release, ascorbate may indirectly oppose the action of dopamine, though the nature of the neostriatal dopaminergic-glutamatergic interaction is far from settled. Ascorbate also may alter the redox state of the NMDA glutamate receptor thus block NMDA-gated channel function.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

The effects of haloperidol, scopolamine, and MK-801 on amphetamine-induced increases in ascorbic and uric acid as determined by voltammetry in vivo

Amphetamine (which enhances dopaminergic, cholinergic, and glutamatergic activity) increases release of ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA) in the caudate nucleus. In this study, linear sweep voltammetry with carbon past electrodes was used to investigate the effects of haloperidol (a DA receptor blocker), scopolamine (a muscarinic receptor blocker), and MK-801 (an NMDA receptor blocker) alone and in combination on amphetamine-induced increases in AA and UA in the caudate nucleus. Both scopolamine (0.5 mg/kg, IP) and MK-801 (0.5 mg/kg, IP) significantly reduced amphetamine-induced increases in AA. Also, scopolamine did not affect MK-801-induced reductions of amphetamine-induced increases in AA. Unexpectedly, a subthreshold dose of haloperidol (0.1 mg/kg, IP) potentiated the ability of scopolamine to block amphetamine-induced increases in AA. Therefore, the data suggest that acetylcholine release and subsequent binding to cholinergic receptors in the caudate, are components of amphetamine-induced increases in AA. In addition, scopolamine modulated haloperidol-induced reductions of amphetamine-induced increases in release of UA. Thus, our data demonstrate that cholinergic and dopaminergic systems may interact to control release of UA.

L-dopa induced increases in brain uric acid in an animal model of Parkinson's disease: a relationship to behavioral activation

Rats with severe unilateral dopamine denervation (> or = 95% dopamine deficit), produced by intracerebral injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the ventral tegmentum nigrostriatal dopamine neurons, were administered 25 mg/kg L-dopa (3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) methyl ester/2 mg/kg carbidopa. The neurochemical effects of the L-dopa treatment on uric acid in the cortex and striatum of the intact and 6-OHDA hemisphere were measured. In comparison to saline animals, uric acid concentrations in brain were increased in the L-dopa treated animals. There were no interhemispheric differences in the uric acid concentrations either in the L-dopa or in the saline treated animals. Interhemispheric differences were, however, observed in terms of the correlations obtained between L-dopa and uric acid concentrations in the intact vs. the 6-OHDA hemisphere. Statistically significant correlation coefficients were found in the striatal and cortex samples obtained from the 6-OHDA hemisphere. Furthermore, high correlation coefficients were observed between contralateral rotation frequencies and uric acid concentrations in the cortex and striatum of the 6-OHDA hemisphere. In contrast, only low and statistically non significant correlations were observed in the tissue samples obtained from the intact hemisphere. These observations suggest that L-dopa activation of the dopamine supersensitive receptors of the DA denervated hemisphere and the associated metabolism of purines with high energy phosphate bonds (e.g. ATP and GTP) increases uric acid as an end-product of purine metabolism. These findings are consistent with other findings indicating that uric acid in the brain can provide an index of metabolic activation in brain tissue.

Ascorbic acid in the brain

Ascorbic acid is highly concentrated in the central nervous system. Measurement of the extracellular concentration of ascorbate in animals, mainly by the technique of voltammetry in vivo, has demonstrated fluctuation in release from neuropil, both spontaneously and in response to physical stimulation of the animal and to certain drugs. Although in the adrenal medulla ascorbate is co-released with catecholamines, release of ascorbate from brain cells is associated principally with the activity of glutamatergic neurones, mainly by glutamate-ascorbate heteroexchange across cell membranes of neurones or glia. This phenomenon is discussed in relation to a possible role of ascorbate as a neuromodulator or neuroprotective agent in the brain.

Effects of cortical ablation on apomorphine- and scopolamine-induced changes in dopamine turnover and ascorbic acid catabolism in the rat striatum

Levels of dopamine (DA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid (DHAA) were measured by HPLC in the striatum of rats whose fronto-parietal cortex had been unilaterally ablated after a single injection of apomorphine (1 mg/kg s.c.), scopolamine (0.6 mg/kg s.c.) or L-glutamate (500 mg/kg i.p.). Unilateral cortical ablation decreased striatal levels of glutamate in both striata ipsilateral (35%) and contralateral (17-25%) to the lesion. Apomorphine and scopolamine significantly increased (+94 and +122%, respectively) the DHAA/ascorbic acid ratio in the striata ipsilateral to the lesion in unoperated and sham-operated rats (+72 and +34%, respectively), but both drugs failed to increase it in ablated rats. L-Glutamate significantly increased the DHAA/ascorbic acid ratio in unoperated (+53%) and ablated rats (+37%). The increase in sham-operated rats (+34%) did not reach statistical significance. Apomorphine and scopolamine significantly decreased the DOPAC/DA ratio in the striata ipsilateral to the lesion of unoperated, sham-operated and ablated rats. The decrease in the DOPAC/DA ratio induced by apomorphine and scopolamine was greater in ablated rats than in sham-operated rats. L-Glutamate induced only minor changes in striatal DA and DOPAC levels. We conclude that the apomorphine- and scopolamine-induced increase in ascorbic acid oxidation in the striatum requires intact cortico-striatal glutamatergic pathways. Cortical ablation potentiates the apomorphine- and scopolamine-induced inhibition of striatal DA turnover.

The effects of cortical ablation on d-amphetamine-induced changes in striatal dopamine turnover and ascorbic acid catabolism in the rat

Dopamine (DA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), ascorbic acid (AA) and dehydroascorbic acid (DHAA) levels were determined by HPLC in the striatal synaptosomal fraction and in the whole striatum of rats, whose fronto-parietal cortex had been bilaterally ablated, after a single injection of d-amphetamine (2.0 mg/kg i.p.). d-Amphetamine significantly increased the DHAA/AA ratio in unoperated and sham-operated rats, but failed to increase it in ablated rats, as compared to pertinent saline-treated groups. In the synaptosomal fraction, d-amphetamine significantly decreased the DHAA/AA ratio in unoperated, sham-operated and ablated rats. d-Amphetamine significantly decreased the DOPAC/DA ratio in the whole striatum and significantly increased it in the striatal synaptosomal fraction in all experimental groups. Cortical ablation greatly increased d-amphetamine-induced motor hyperactivity. We conclude that the d-amphetamine-induced increase in AA striatal oxidation requires integrity of the cortico-striatal glutamatergic pathways. Further, AA oxidation occurs in the extracellular space. The cortico-striatal glutamatergic pathways exert an inhibitory modulation on d-amphetamine behavioral effects.

Further investigations into the relationship between the dopaminergic system, ascorbic acid and uric acid in the rat striatum

Levels of dopamine (DA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), ascorbic acid (AA), dehydroascorbic acid (DHAA), and uric acid were determined in the rat striatum following single apomorphine (1 mg/kg), scopolamine (0.6 mg/kg), pilocarpine (4 mg/kg), or pilocarpine + scopolamine (4 and 0.6 mg/kg, respectively) injections. The decrease in DOPAC levels and in the DOPAC/DA ratio, induced by the pharmacological manipulation, was linearly correlated with the increase in DHAA levels (r = -0.9060, P less than 0.05) and with the increase in the DHAA/AA ratio (r = -0.9004, P less than 0.05), respectively. It is concluded that dopaminergic activation or cholinergic inhibition both increase striatal AA oxidation, which is correlated with a decrease in DA turnover.

Investigations into the relationship between the dopaminergic system and ascorbic acid in rat striatum

Levels of dopamine (DA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), ascorbic acid (AA) and dehydroascorbic acid (DHAA) were determined by HPLC in the striatum of male Wistar rats after single or repeated injections of apomorphine (1 mg/kg/day s.c.) and/or haloperidol (1 mg/kg/day i.p.), and 24 h after the last drug administration. Apomorphine significantly reduced the DOPAC/DA ratio and increased the DHAA/AA ratio; these ratio changes were significantly correlated (r = -0.9969, P less than 0.0005). Haloperidol greatly increased the DOPAC/DA ratio; the DHAA/AA ratio was also slightly increased, but there was no significant correlation. When apomorphine was associated with haloperidol, the resulting DOPAC/DA ratio was significantly lower than after haloperidol alone; the DHAA/AA ratio was also significantly reduced in contrast to the effect of apomorphine alone. It is concluded that a non-selective DA receptor activation mediates, in a correlated way, both the inhibition of DA turnover and the increase of AA oxidation in the rat striatum.