Figure 1.

Effect of aconitine on the mechanically isolated rat ventromedial hypothalamic (VMH) neurons under current-clamp conditions. Recordings were performed with patch-pipette solution containing 10 mM Cl⁻. (A) Aconitine-induced depolarization in a VMH neuron. Aconitine was applied during time indicated by closed bar above the trace. The figure is representative of six reproducible experiments. (B) Effects of aconitine (3×10⁻⁶ M) in the presence of 3×10⁻⁶ M CNQX (a) or 3×10⁻⁵ M bicuculline (b). In the presence of both CNQX and bicuculline, aconitine produced slight depolarization (c). Each trace is representative of six reproducible experiments. (C) The figure summarizes the aconitine-induced depolarization in control condition and in the presence of CNQX, bicuculline or both. Each column represents the mean±s.e. of six neurons. The statistical significance was determined by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test for multiple comparisons. ^*P<0.05, ^***P<0.001.