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Immunohistochemical localization of GABAA receptors in the scotopic pathway of the cat retina

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Abstract

The distribution of GABAA receptors in the inner plexiform layer of cat retina was studied using monoclonal antibodies against the β2/β3 subunits. A dense band of receptor labeling was found in the inner region of the inner plexiform layer where the rod bipolar axons terminate. Three forms of evidence indicate that the GABAA receptor labeling is on the indoleamine-accumulating, GABAergic amacrine cell that is synaptically interconnected with the rod bipolar cell terminal. (1) Electron microscopy showed that the anti-GABAA receptor antibody (62-3G1) labeled profiles that were postsynaptic to rod bipolar axons and made reciprocal synapses. (2) Indoleamine uptake (and the subsequent autofluorescence) combined with GABAA receptor immunohistochemistry showed co-localization of the two markers in half of the receptor-positive amacrine cells. (3) Double labeling demonstrated that half of the receptor-positive somata also contained GABA. These results indicate that a GABAergic amacrine cell interconnected with the rod bipolar cell, most likely the so-called A17 amacrine cell, itself bears GABAA receptors.

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Author notes

  1. Thomas E. Hughes

    Present address: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Yale University School of Medicine, 06510-8061, New Haven, CT, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Hirnforschung, Deutschordenstrasse 46, D-60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Ulrike Grünert

  2. Department of Neurosciences, 0608, University of Califorinia, San Diego, 92093, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Thomas E. Hughes

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  1. Ulrike Grünert
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Grünert, U., Hughes, T.E. Immunohistochemical localization of GABAA receptors in the scotopic pathway of the cat retina. Cell Tissue Res 274, 267–277 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318746

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318746

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