Amino Acids

, Volume 43, Issue 3, pp 1399–1403 | Cite as

Synaptic localisation of agmatinase in rat cerebral cortex revealed by virtual pre-embedding

  • V. I. Madai
  • W. C. Poller
  • D. Peters
  • J. Berger
  • K. Paliege
  • R. Bernard
  • R. W. Veh
  • G. Laube
Short Communication
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Light microscopic evidence suggested a synaptic role for agmatinase, an enzyme capable of inactivating the putative neurotransmitter and endogenous anti-depressant agmatine. Using electron microscopy and an alternative pre-embedding approach referred to as virtual pre-embedding, agmatinase was localised pre- and postsynaptically, to dendritic spines, spine and non-spine terminals, and dendritic profiles. In dendritic spines, labelling displayed a tendency towards the postsynaptic density. These results further strengthen a synaptic role for agmatine and strongly suggest a regulatory role for synaptically expressed agmatinase.

Keywords

Agmatinase Agmatine Neurotransmission Pre-embedding Mood disorders 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance of Berit Söhl-Kielczynski.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interests.

Supplementary material

726_2011_1195_MOESM1_ESM.doc (40 kb)
Supplementary material 1 (DOC 40 kb)

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • V. I. Madai
    • 1
    • 2
  • W. C. Poller
    • 1
    • 3
  • D. Peters
    • 1
  • J. Berger
    • 1
  • K. Paliege
    • 1
    • 4
  • R. Bernard
    • 1
    • 2
  • R. W. Veh
    • 1
  • G. Laube
    • 1
  1. 1.Institute for Integrative NeuroanatomyCharité—Universitätsmedizin BerlinBerlinGermany
  2. 2.Center for Stroke Research Berlin (CSB)Charité—Universitätsmedizin BerlinBerlinGermany
  3. 3.Department of CardiologyCharité—Universitätsmedizin BerlinBerlinGermany
  4. 4.Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at UKBUnfallkrankenhaus BerlinBerlinGermany

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