Effect of chronic intracerebroventricular insulin administration in rats on the peripheral glucose metabolism and synaptic plasticity of CA1 hippocampal neurons

In this study we examined the effects of sustained intracerebroventricular insulin infusion on hippocampal synaptic plasticity in rats. Insulin was infused intracerebroventricularly in male Wistar rats (n = 12) for 3 months using osmotic minipumps. A control group (n = 12) received a sham operation. Insulin infusion led to an initial reduction in food intake and body weight gain, but these differences attenuated over 12 weeks. Insulin infusion did not affect fasting or non-fasting blood glucose levels. Field synaptic potentials recording from the hippocampus demonstrated a defect in the expression of long-term potentiation. Sharp electrode current-clamp recording showed that CA1 pyramidal cells fire action potentials in response to prolonged depolarizing current injection and those action potentials showed progressive broadening. The action potential broadening in the insulin-perfused animals were significantly longer than the control. The amplitude of slow after hyperpolarization (sAHP) was measured after manually “clamping” the cells at − 65 mV and injecting currents to evoke a train of four APs. The sAHP amplitude was significantly longer than in the control animals. We conclude that local insulin infusion into the brain of rats had significant effects on synaptic plasticity in the absence of marked effects on systemic glucose levels. These results indicate that long-term elevation of insulin levels can have adverse effects directly on the brain.

► Insulin was chronically administered in the rats' brain.
► Three months of insulin administration did not affect glucose homeostasis.
► Recording from hippocampal slices showed changes in synaptic plasticity.
► Synaptic plasticity and learning were affected in absence of glucose level changes.