Involvement of the septum in the regulation of paraventricular vasopressin neurons by the subfornical organ in the rat

Extracellular recordings were obtained from 58 phasically active neurosecretory neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of urethane-anesthetized male rats. Of these PVN neurons, 39 exhibited an increase and 11 displayed a reduction in ongoing activity following electrical stimulation of the subfornical organ (SFO), while the remaining neurons were unresponsive. Microinjection of the local anesthetic lidocaine into the medial septum reversibly abolished the SFO stimulus-evoked reduction in 7 out of 9 PVN neurons tested, whereas similar injection was without effect on the stimulus-evoked increase in 18 out of 20 PVN neurons tested. These results suggest that the SFO efferents through the medial septum to the PVN exert a predominantly inhibitory influence on the excitability of putative vasopressin (VP)-secreting neurons in the PVN.