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A pharmacological study of the depression of spinal neurones by glycine and related amino acids

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Summary

An analysis has been made in anaesthetised cats of the depression by glycine and related amino acids of the firing of spinal dorsal horn interneurones, Renshaw cells and cortical neurones. In general, electrophoretically administered glycine was a more potent depressant of interneurones than GABA. The reverse was true for cortical neurones, whereas these two amino acids were approximately equally effective upon Renshaw cells. Strychnine blocked the depressant action of α- and β-amino acids, but not that of γ- and higher ω-amino acids. Only convulsants having a strychnine-like effect on spinal post-synaptic inhibition blocked the action of glycine. The depression of spinal neurones produced by glycine or GABA was not affected by structural analogues of glycine and GABA that were not depressants, or by substances influencing amino acid transport systems. Some evidence was obtained for the enzymic inactivation of electrophoretically administered glycine in spinal tissue. The results are discussed in terms of the involvement of a glycine-like amino acid as a major spinal inhibitory transmitter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    D. R. Curtis, L. Hösli & G. A. R. Johnston

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  1. D. R. Curtis
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  2. L. Hösli
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  3. G. A. R. Johnston
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Supported by a grant from the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences.

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Curtis, D.R., Hösli, L. & Johnston, G.A.R. A pharmacological study of the depression of spinal neurones by glycine and related amino acids. Exp Brain Res 6, 1–18 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235443

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