Götz M, Williams B P, Bolz J, Price J
National Institute for Medical Research, London, UK.
Eur J Neurosci. 1995 May 1;7(5):889-98. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.1995.tb01076.x.
Neurotransmitter choice is a crucial step in neural development. In the cerebral cortex, pyramidal neurons use the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, whereas non-pyramidal cells use the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. We are interested in how these two neuronal types are generated. We labelled precursor cells from embryonic rat cerebral cortex with a retroviral vector in dissociated cell cultures, and examined the neurotransmitter phenotype of their progeny immunohistochemically after 2 weeks in vitro. We discovered, first, that precursor cells in culture generate glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons in proportions similar to those in vivo. Second, we found that neuronal precursor cells gave rise to both GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons. These results suggest that neuronal precursor cells in the cerebral cortex have the potential to generate both neuronal subtypes. Moreover, these data are consistent with a stochastic model of neurotransmitter specification.
神经递质的选择是神经发育中的关键步骤。在大脑皮层中，锥体神经元使用兴奋性神经递质谷氨酸，而非锥体神经元使用抑制性神经递质γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）。我们感兴趣的是这两种神经元类型是如何产生的。我们在解离细胞培养物中用逆转录病毒载体标记来自胚胎大鼠大脑皮层的前体细胞，并在体外培养2周后通过免疫组织化学方法检查其后代的神经递质表型。首先，我们发现培养中的前体细胞产生谷氨酸能神经元和γ-氨基丁酸能神经元的比例与体内相似。其次，我们发现神经元前体细胞既能产生γ-氨基丁酸能神经元，也能产生谷氨酸能神经元。这些结果表明，大脑皮层中的神经元前体细胞有产生这两种神经元亚型的潜力。此外，这些数据与神经递质特异性的随机模型一致。
