Somatostatin receptors and glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors coexist on hippocampal noradrenergic axon terminals. Activation of somatostatin receptors was previously found to positively influence the function of NMDA receptors regulating norepinephrine release. The somatostatin receptors involved were pharmacologically characterized as sst5 type in experiments in Mg2+-free solutions. Here, we first confirm the pharmacology of these receptors using selective sst5 ligands in Mg2+-containing solutions. Moreover, we show by Western blot that the sst5 protein exists on purified hippocampal synaptosomal membranes. We then investigated the pathways connecting the two receptors using as a functional response the release of norepinephrine from rat hippocampal synaptosomes in superfusion. The release of norepinephrine evoked by somatostatin-14 plus NMDA/glycine was partly prevented by the protein kinase C inhibitor GF109203X [dihydrochloride3-[1-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]-1H-indol-3-yl]-4-(1H-indol-3-yl)-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione] and by the nonreceptor tyrosine kinase (Src) inhibitors PP2 [3-(4-chlorophenyl)1-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-D]pyrimidin-4-amine] and lavendustin A; it was largely and almost totally abolished by the phospholipase C inhibitor U73122 [1-(6-[([17beta]-3-methoxyextra-1,3,5[10]-trien-17-yl)amino]hexyl)-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione] and by the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) inhibitor KN93 [N-(2-[N-[4-chlorocinnamyl]-N-methyl-amino-methyl]phenyl)-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methoxy-benzene-sulfonamide-phosphate salt], respectively; and it was unaffected by the protein kinase A inhibitor H89 [N-(2-[p-bromocinnamylamino]ethyl)5-isoquinolinesulfonamide hydrochloride]. The norepinephrine release evoked by somatostatin-14/NMDA/glycine was inhibited when anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies had been entrapped into synaptosomes. Entrapping the recombinant activated tyrosine kinase pp60(c-Src) strongly potentiated the release of norepinephrine elicited by NMDA/glycine in Mg2+-free medium but failed to permit NMDA receptor activation in presence of external Mg2+ ions. The results suggest the involvement of CaMKII in the sst5 receptor-mediated activation of NMDA receptors in presence of Mg2+ and of the PLC/PKC/Src pathway in the up-regulation of the ongoing NMDA receptor activity.