Department of Biology, The College of William and Mary, Integrated Science Center, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA.
Dev Dyn. 2011 Apr;240(4):862-73. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.22580. Epub 2011 Mar 7.
Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult nervous system, acts via two classes of receptors, the ionotropic GABA(A) and metabotropic GABA(B) receptors. During the development of the nervous system, GABA acts in a depolarizing, excitatory manner and plays an important role in various neural developmental processes including cell proliferation, migration, synapse formation, and activity-dependent differentiation. Here we describe the spatial and temporal expression patterns of the GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptors during early development of Xenopus laevis. Using in situ hybridization and qRT-PCR, GABA(A) α2 was detected as a maternal mRNA. All other α-subunits were first detected by tailbud through hatching stages. Expression of the various subunits was seen in the brain, spinal cord, cranial ganglia, olfactory epithelium, pineal, and pituitary gland. Each receptor subunit showed a distinctive, unique expression pattern, suggesting these receptors have specific functions and are regulated in a precise spatial and temporal manner.
γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）是成人神经系统中的主要抑制性神经递质，通过两类受体发挥作用，即离子型 GABA(A)受体和代谢型 GABA(B)受体。在神经系统发育过程中，GABA 以去极化、兴奋的方式发挥作用，并在细胞增殖、迁移、突触形成和活性依赖性分化等各种神经发育过程中发挥重要作用。在这里，我们描述了非洲爪蟾 Xenopus laevis 早期发育过程中 GABA(A)和 GABA(B)受体的时空表达模式。通过原位杂交和 qRT-PCR，我们检测到 GABA(A)α2 作为母源 mRNA 存在。所有其他α亚基在尾部芽通过孵化阶段首次被检测到。各种亚基的表达可见于大脑、脊髓、颅神经节、嗅上皮、松果腺和垂体。每个受体亚基都表现出独特的、独特的表达模式，表明这些受体具有特定的功能，并以精确的时空方式进行调节。
