Abstract
The effect of the glial toxin α-aminoadipic acid (AAA) upon theNa+/glutamate cotransporter of acutely isolated guinea pig retinal glial cells was studied using the whole-cell voltage-clamp technique. Glutamate evoked an in ward current in these cells at negative holding potentials dependent on the presence of extracellular Na+ and intracellular K+. A reversal potential could not be found for the current. L-trans-Pyrrolidine-2.4-dicarboxylic acid (PDC), a blocker of Na+-dependent glutamate uptake, diminished the glutamate current also in our cells. Application of L-AAA also generated an inward current at negative holding potentials, without a reversal potential, being suppressed if extracellularNa+ or intracellular K+ was removed. The glutamate uptake blocker, PDC (200 μM), blocked the L-AAA (1 mM) current. Thus, L-AAA proved to be transported by the Na+/glutamate transporter of Müller cells. Hence, glutamate currents were diminished by L-AAA competitively with a Km of 499 μM at a glutamate concentration of 10 μM. The Na+/glutamate uptake was less sensitive to DL- and D-AAA block. It is suggested that the blocking effect of AAA on Na+-dependent glutamate uptake into glial cells might be involved in the well known glia toxicity of this compound.
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Pannicke, T., Stabel, J., Heinemann, U. et al. Alpha-aminoadipic acid blocks the Na+-dependent glutamate transport into acutely isolated Müller glial cells from guinea pig retina. Pflugers Arch. 429, 140–142 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02584041
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02584041