Kapoor R, Okuno E, Kido R, Kapoor V
School of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Neuroreport. 1997 Nov 10;8(16):3619-23. doi: 10.1097/00001756-199711100-00039.
In the mammalian brain, kynurenine aminotransferase (KAT) is pivotal to the synthesis of kynurenic acid, a preferential antagonist at the strychnine-insensitive NMDA-glycine site. As NMDA receptors are involved in autonomic function, we have examined the immunohistochemical localization of KAT in the medulla and spinal cord of the rat. KAT immunoreactivity (KAT-li) was found throughout these areas, in both glia and neurons. Unlike the mainly astrocytic localization in forebrain structures, KAT-li was predominantly neuronal, notably in areas important for blood pressure and heart rate regulation: ventral medulla, nucleus ambiguus, nucleus of the solitary tract and intramediolateral cell column of the spinal cord. The presence of KAT in these nuclei supports a neuromodulatory role for kynurenic acid in NMDA-mediated autonomic function.
