To explore the intracellular pathways activated by vasopressin receptors, the effects of arginine vasopressin (AVP) and its analogues mediating glycine (Gly)-induced Cl ؊ currents (I Gly ) were examined in acutely dissociated rat hippocampal CA1 neurons using the whole-cell patch recording technique. AVP and its analogues inhibited I Gly in a concentration-dependent manner. The inhibitory actions of AVP(4 -9) (AVP metabolite) and NC-1900 (AVP(4 -9) analogue) were reversed by a V 1 receptor antagonist, or pretreatment with 1,2-bis The hypothalamic vasopressin-containing neurons project to the hippocampal regions (4, 5). Autoradiographic ligand-binding studies found vasopressin receptors in the pyramidal cell layer of the hippocampus (6, 7). The vasopressin receptor in the hippocampus has been shown to be the V 1 subtype in histological studies using a 3 H-labeled V 1 antagonist (8, 9). Moreover, the possible existence of V 2 receptor in the rat hippocampus has also been suggested at the mRNA level (10). Extracellular recording revealed an increase of firing rate of hippocampal neurons stimulated by AVP (11). In addition, AVP has been shown to induce an increase of spike discharge in the hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons in studies using microelectrode techniques (12). In both electrophysiological (9, 11) and behavioral (13, 14) studies, the effect of AVP was blocked by a selective V 1 receptor antagonist. It has also been reported that AVP induced the production of IP 3 through the V 1 receptor in rat cultured hippocampal neurons (15, 16). Brinton and McEwen (17) demonstrated that AVP potentiates the norepinephrine-induced cAMP accumulation in a calcium-dependent manner in the rat hippocampal slice preparation through the V 1 receptor. It has been demonstrated that the activation of V 1a receptor potentiated the V 2 receptor-mediated cAMP accumulation in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells transfected with both receptor cDNAs (18). However, the specific mechanism by which cAMP accumulates as a consequence of V 1 receptor activation has yet been elucidated for hippocampal neurons.The intracellular cAMP levels may be modified by calcium through regulation of the activity of some adenylate cyclase isoforms. Nine subtypes of adenylate cyclase have been identified by cloning and expression studies, and they have been divided into six subfamilies based on their functional properties and sequence similarities: type 1, type 2-like group (types 2, 4 and 7), type 3, type 5-like group (types 5 and 6), type 8, and type 9 (19 -23). The presence of types 1, 2, 4, and 8 messenger RNAs was revealed by the polymerase chain reaction in pyramidal neurons in the CA1 region (21,(23)(24)(25). The types 1 and 8