Depolarizing responses to glycine, beta-alanine and muscimol in isolated optic nerve and cuneate nucleus.

Concentration-dependent depolarizations were evoked by glycine and beta-alanine 5 X 10(-4)-10(-2)M and by the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) analogue, muscimol 10(-6)-10(-4)M. The maximal response to glycine was several-fold higher than that to muscimol on optic nerve but the reverse was found on the dorsal funiculus fibres in the cuneate nucleus. beta-Alanine evoked a similar maximal response to glycine on optic nerve but a considerably higher maximum than glycine in the cuneate nucleus. Strychnine was 19.5 times more potent as a glycine antagonist (pA2 = 6.58) than as a muscimol antagonist. Bicuculline was 156 times more potent as a muscimol antagonist than as a glycine antagonist. Other antagonists of muscimol, i.e. tubocurarine, picrotoxin and leptazol, and potentiators of muscimol, i.e. pentobarbitone and flurazepam, had little or no effect on responses to glycine. Responses to beta-alanine had pharmacological properties compatible with a mixed action on both GABA and glycine receptors. The rat isolated optic nerve appears to be a useful preparation for studying the pharmacology of the neuronal glycine receptor plus chloride ionophore complex.