P.1.f.004 Behavioural and neurodevelopmental effects of ACTH and glucocorticoids in neonatal rats

Abstract

This chapter highlights how studies of the giant dopamine neuron (GDN) located in the left pedal ganglion of the pond snail Planorbis corneus have provided direct demonstration of reverse transport from a neuron in real time. The GDN is advantageous for these studies because it has nomifensine-sensitive plasma membrane dopamine (DA) uptake, reserpine-sensitive vesicular DA uptake, it metabolizes DA to dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, and lacks ascorbic acid, facilitating the unambiguous amperometric detection of DA. Exocytic quantal release events can easily be distinguished from release by reverse transport using carbon fiber electrodes. The large size of the neuron allows the estimation of cytosolic levels of DA with intracellular carbon electrodes. The large size of the cell, the presence of the DA uptake system, and presence of many synaptic vesicles provides an enormous transmitter pool, proving the means to detect reverse transport from a single cell.