Effect of inhibitory amino acid antagonists on postsynaptic potentials of motoneurons of the frog Rana ridibunda

On preparations of the isolated spinal cord of the frog Rana ridibunda at intracellular recording from lumbar motoneurons, it is shown that response to the 10 mM GABA application decreased selectively by 40.7 ± 23.7% ( n = 6) as a result of the spinal cord treatment with bicuculline (100–150 µM), while response to the Gly application decreased selectively by 50.7 ± 17.8% ( n = 10) after the spinal cord treatment with strychnine (5–10 μM). Both strychnine and bicuculline produced potentiation of EPSP by amplitude and duration as well as paroxysmal depolarizational shifts (PDS). Strychnine produced more effectively the potentiation, while bicuculline—PDS. The inhibitory Gly effect decreased significantly the DR and RF EPSP (a decrease of amplitude and duration) as a result of the spinal cord treatment with strychnine (5–10 μM), but not with bicuculline. The inhibitory GABA effect on the DR and RF EPSP decreased as a result of the spinal cord treatment with bicuculline only in a half of the studied motoneurons and to the lesser degree than the inhibitory Gly effect on the same EPSP at the strychnine treatment. Based of the obtained data, it is suggested that the inhibitory effects on the excitatory inputs of the motoneuron in the frog are expressed weaker than in mammals and are related predominantly to the GABA and Gly effects on receptors of interneurons. It is suggested that GABA specifically acts mostly on GABA A receptors, whereas Gly—on Gly receptors, although there is some part of cross-inhibition.