Mennerick S, Zorumski C F
Department of Psychiatry, Anatomy & Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri 63110.
Nature. 1994 Mar 3;368(6466):59-62. doi: 10.1038/368059a0.
Although many glial cells possess neurotransmitter receptors and transporters, little is known about glial participation in neurotransmission. To explore this issue, we recorded neuronal autaptic and glial responses from cultured hippocampal single-neuron micro-islands. Excitatory synaptic events activate rapid electrogenic glial glutamate transporter currents similar to those elicited by exogenous glutamate in other preparations. We show here that glial transporter responses may be used to sense changes in presynaptic efficacy and that glial uptake helps to remove synaptically released glutamate, thereby contributing to the termination of excitatory synaptic currents under certain conditions. These observations provide a framework for understanding the role of glia in both normal and pathological processes.
尽管许多神经胶质细胞拥有神经递质受体和转运体，但对于神经胶质细胞参与神经传递的情况却知之甚少。为了探究这个问题，我们记录了培养的海马单神经元微岛中的神经元自突触和神经胶质细胞反应。兴奋性突触事件激活了快速的电生性神经胶质谷氨酸转运体电流，类似于其他制剂中外源性谷氨酸所引发的电流。我们在此表明，神经胶质转运体反应可用于感知突触前效能的变化，并且神经胶质细胞摄取有助于清除突触释放的谷氨酸，从而在某些条件下促进兴奋性突触电流的终止。这些观察结果为理解神经胶质细胞在正常和病理过程中的作用提供了一个框架。
