Hamlin L, Mackerlova L, Blomqvist A, Ericson A C
Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Linköping, Sweden.
Neurosci Lett. 1996 Oct 18;217(2-3):149-52.
Glutamate plays an important role in supraspinal nociceptive systems. Thus, glutamate is present in the nucleus submedius of the medial thalamus, a major relay for nociceptive information. In this study, immunoreactivity for the four subunits (GluR1-4) of alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxasoleproprionate (AMPA) receptors was examined by a preembedding immunohistochemical method in order to evaluate the presence of this glutamate receptor subtype in the nucleus submedius. Combining the preembedding method with a postembedding immunogold technique, we found that AMPA receptor-like immunoreactivity was present postsynaptically to glutamatergic terminals but not to terminals containing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). These findings suggest a role for AMPA receptors in excitatory synaptic transmission in the nucleus submedius of the rat thalamus.
谷氨酸在脊髓上痛觉系统中发挥重要作用。因此，谷氨酸存在于内侧丘脑的中介核中，该核是痛觉信息的主要中继站。在本研究中，采用包埋前免疫组织化学方法检测了α-氨基-3-羟基-5-甲基-4-异恶唑丙酸（AMPA）受体四个亚基（GluR1 - 4）的免疫反应性，以评估该谷氨酸受体亚型在中介核中的存在情况。将包埋前方法与包埋后免疫金技术相结合，我们发现AMPA受体样免疫反应性存在于谷氨酸能终末的突触后，但不存在于含有γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）的终末。这些发现提示AMPA受体在大鼠丘脑中介核的兴奋性突触传递中发挥作用。
