Light microscopic autoradiographic localisation of [3H]glycine and [3H]strychnine binding sites in rat brain.

Receptor autoradiography has been employed to determine the distribution of strychnine-insensitive glycine binding sites in rat brain using [3H]glycine as a ligand. The location was significantly different from and more widespread than glycine sensitive [3H]strychnine binding sites. Highest binding densities were observed in hippocampus, cortex, subiculum and amygdala followed by striatum, cerebellum and olfactory areas. Characterisation of the binding indicated that it was saturable, of high affinity, stereoselective and displaced by structurally related amino acids. The results support the existence of two glycine receptor subtypes: strychnine-sensitive and strychnine-insensitive.