Localization of the glycine receptors in the rat central nervous system: an immunocytochemical analysis.

Abstract

Glycine is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. The binding of this amino acid to the postsysnaptic glycine receptor produces an inhibitory effect and_This effect of glycine is antagonized by the alkaloid strychnine1–14. Localization of glycine in the nervous system has been eIamined autofgdblgraphically exploiting the high affinity uptake of (3H)-glycine 15–17 and more recently immunocytochemically by using antiserum against conjugated glycine18,19. On the other hand, the binding site of glycine to its receptor has been studied by autoradiography using (3H)-glycine20,21 or (3H)-strychnine21,22. However, the binding sites labeled by these radioisotopes might include non-receptor sites because of non-specific uptake of the ligands. Recently, glycine receptors have been solubilized and purified by affinity chromatography on aminostrychnine agarose. In addition, monoclonal antibodies against this receptor4,5,23 were produced. This made it possible to visualize the glycine receptor in the nervous system immunocytochemically; As a result, glycine receptors were observed in the motor neurons in the anterior horn of the spinal cord and cochlear nucleus24,25. However, the precise cellular and subcellular localization of glycine receptors in the central nervous system has not been reported.KeywordsPurkinje CellFrontal PlaneReticular FormationCochlear NucleusCerebellar NucleusThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.