Devaud Jean-Marc, Clouet-Redt Christelle, Bockaert Joël, Grau Yves, Parmentier Marie-Laure
CNRS, UMR5203, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle, Montpellier, France.
Neuroreport. 2008 Feb 12;19(3):367-71. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e3282f524c7.
Glutamate is the predominant excitatory neurotransmitter in the vertebrate brain, whereas acetylcholine has been considered to play the same role in insects. Recent studies have, however, questioned the latter view by showing a rather general distribution of glutamate transporters. Here, we describe the expression pattern of the receptor DmGlu-A (DmGluRA), the unique homolog of vertebrate metabotropic glutamate receptors. Metabotropic glutamate receptors play important roles in the regulation of glutamatergic neurotransmission. Using a specific antibody, we report DmGluRA expression in most neuropile areas in both larvae and adults, but not in the lobes of the mushroom bodies. These observations suggest a key role for glutamate in the insect brain.
谷氨酸是脊椎动物大脑中主要的兴奋性神经递质，而乙酰胆碱在昆虫中被认为起着相同的作用。然而，最近的研究通过显示谷氨酸转运体相当广泛的分布对后一种观点提出了质疑。在这里，我们描述了受体DmGlu-A（DmGluRA）的表达模式，它是脊椎动物代谢型谷氨酸受体的独特同源物。代谢型谷氨酸受体在调节谷氨酸能神经传递中起重要作用。使用一种特异性抗体，我们报告DmGluRA在幼虫和成虫的大多数神经纤维区域均有表达，但在蘑菇体的叶中不表达。这些观察结果表明谷氨酸在昆虫大脑中起关键作用。
