mRNAs coding for neurotransmitter receptors in rabbit and rat visual areas.

Levels of mRNAs encoding neurotransmitter receptors in the visual cortex, lateral geniculate nucleus, and superior colliculus of the rabbit and rat, and properties of the receptors expressed, were studied using Xenopus laevis oocytes. mRNA extracted from these areas was injected into the oocytes, which then acquired functional receptors. Electrical recordings of neurotransmitter-induced membrane currents reflect the relative amounts of mRNAs encoding the corresponding receptors. Receptors to gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), kainate, glutamate, and serotonin exhibited uniformly high levels of expression, whereas expression of receptors to glycine and N-methyl-D-aspartate was uniformly low. In contrast, the expression of receptors to acetylcholine and substance P was highly non-uniform. Expression of acetylcholine receptors was high in oocytes injected with mRNA from the visual cortex, low for the lateral geniculate nucleus, and very low or absent for the superior colliculus. Conversely, the currents elicited by substance P were large in oocytes injected with superior colliculus mRNA, but were small or absent in oocytes injected with mRNAs from the other regions. Immunohistochemical analysis, at the light and electron microscopic levels, was used to localize choline acetyltransferase, the acetylcholine-synthesizing enzyme, and substance P-containing synaptic boutons in the three visual areas. Their presence closely paralleled the potency of mRNAs coding for acetylcholine and substance P receptors. The ability of rat mRNA, from each visual area, to induce neurotransmitter receptors was similar to that observed in the corresponding rabbit mRNAs. In addition to the marked differential distribution of mRNA encoding neurotransmitter receptors in the visual system, our findings reveal the probable existence of as yet uncharacterized receptors, whose new molecular forms may be revealed by further study. Our results also provide the basic information required for subsequent studies on the effect of monocular deprivation on the expression of neurotransmitter receptors in the visual system.