Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T09:42:55.490Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

GABAC receptors on ferret retinal bipolar cells: A diversity of subtypes in mammals?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Peter D. Lukasiewicz  and
Rachel O.L. Wong
Peter D. Lukasiewicz
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis
Rachel O.L. Wong
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The GABAC receptor subtypes on bipolar cells of rats and cold-blooded vertebrates differ in their pharmacological properties and probably have different molecular compositions. With the exception of the rat, native GABAC receptors in mammals had not been studied. In ferret, whole-cell, voltage-clamp recordings were made from bipolar cells in the retinal slice preparation to determine which subtype of GABAC receptor predominated. Puff-evoked GABA currents in bipolar cells were partially reduced by the GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline, indicating that both GABAA and GABAC receptors mediated the responses. By contrast, GABA currents of ganglion cells were always completely blocked by bicuculline, indicating that GABAA receptors predominated on these cells. Small-amplitude GABA currents of bipolar cells evoked by short-duration puffs were less sensitive to bicuculline than large-amplitude currents evoked by long-duration puffs. This indicates that GABAc receptors mediated proportionately more of the small-amplitude, puff-evoked responses and GABAA receptors mediated more of the large-amplitude, puff-evoked responses. In bipolar cells, the bicuculline-resistant component of the GABA current was entirely blocked by 3-APMPA (3-aminopropyl-(methyl)phosphonic acid), a GABAC receptor antagonist. Picrotoxin, which is relatively ineffective at rat GABAC receptors, completely blocked GABA currents in ferret bipolar cells, indicating that GABAC receptors on ferret bipolar cells resemble those in lower vertebrates rather than those in the rat retina. These results suggest that there may be a diversity of GABAc receptor subtypes on mammalian bipolar cells.

Keywords

GABAC receptorBipolar cellFerretRetinal slicePicrotoxin
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 14 , Issue 5 , September 1997 , pp. 989 - 994
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amin, J. & Weiss, D.S. (1994). Homomeric ρl GABA channels: Activation properties and domains. Receptors and Channels 2, 227–236.Google Scholar
Barnes, S. & Werblin, F. (1987). Direct excitatory and lateral inhibitory synaptic inputs to amacrine cells in the tiger salamander retina. Brain Research 406, 233–237.Google Scholar
Bormann, J. & Feigenspan, A. (1995). GABAc receptors. Trends in Neuroscience 18, 515–519.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cutting, G.R., Lu, L., O'Hara, B.F. & Kasch, L.M. (1991). Cloning of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) rhol cDNA: A GABA receptor subunit highly expressed in the retina. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 88, 2673–2677.Google Scholar
Cutting, G.R., Curristin, S., Zoghbi, H., O'Hara, B., Seldin, M.F. & Uhl, G.R. (1992). Identification of a putative gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor subunit rho2 cDNA and colocalization of the genes encoding rho2 (GABRR2) and rhol (GABRR1) to human chromosome 6q14-q21 and mouse chromosome 4. Genomics 12, 801–806.Google Scholar
Enz, R., Brandstatter, J.H., Hartviet, E., Wassle, H. & Bormann, J. (1995). Expression of GABA receptors ρ1 and ρ2 subunits in the retina and brain of the rat. European Journal of Neuroscience 7, 1495–1501.Google Scholar
Enz, R., Brandstatter, J.H., Wassle, H. & Bormann, J. (1996). Immunocytochemical localization of the GABAc receptor ρ subunits in the mammalian retina. Journal of Neuroscience 16, 4479–4490.Google Scholar
Feigenspan, A. & Bormann, J. (1994). Differential pharmacology of GABAA and GABAc receptors on rat retinal bipolar cells. European Journal of Pharmacology 288, 97–104.Google Scholar
Feigenspan, A., Wassle, H. & Bormann, J. (1993). Pharmacology of GABA receptor Cl− channels in rat retinal bipolar cells. Nature 361, 159–162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lukasiewicz, P.D. (1996). GABAC receptors in the vertebrate retina. Molecular Neurobiology 12, 211–224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lukasiewicz, P.D. & Roeder, R.C. (1995). Evidence for glycine modulation of excitatory synaptic inputs to retinal ganglion cells. Journal of Neuroscience 15, 4592–4601.Google Scholar
Lukasiewicz, P.D., Maple, B.R. & Werblin, F.S. (1994). A novel GABA receptor on bipolar cell terminals in the tiger salamander retina. Journal of Neuroscience 14, 1201–1212.Google ScholarPubMed
Matthews, G., Ayoub, G.S. & Heidelburger, R. (1994). Presynaptic inhibition by GABA is mediated via two distinct GABA receptors with novel pharmacology. Journal of Neuroscience 14, 1079–1090.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ogurusu, T. & Shingai, R. (1996). Cloning of a putative gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor subunit rho3 cDNA. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1305, 15–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pan, Z.-H., & Lipton, S.A. (1995). Multiple GABA receptor subtypes mediate inhibition of calcium influx at rat retinal bipolar cell terminals. Journal of Neuroscience 15, 2668–2679.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polenzani, L., Woodward, R.M. & Miledi, R. (1991). Expression of mammalian gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors with distinct pharmacology in Xenopus oocytes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 88, 4318–4322.Google Scholar
Qian, H. & Dowling, J.E. (1993). Novel GABA responses from rod-driven retinal horizontal cells. Nature 361, 162–164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Qian, H. & Dowling, J.E. (1995). GABAA and GABAC receptors on hybrid bass retinal bipolar cells. Journal of Neurophysiology 74, 1920–1928.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shimada, S., Cutting, G. & Uhl, G.R. (1992). Gamma-aminobutyric acid A or C receptor? Gamma-aminobutyric acid rhol receptor RNA induces bicuculline-, barbiturate-, and benzodiazepine-insensitive gamma-aminobutyric acid responses in Xenopus oocytes. Molecular Pharmacology 41, 683–687.Google Scholar
Wang, Tian-L., Hackam, A.S., Guggino, W.B. & Cutting, G.R. (1995). A single amino acid in gamma-aminobutyric acid ρ1 receptors affects competitive and noncompetitive components of picrotoxin inhibition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 92, 11751–11755.Google Scholar
Werblin, F.S. (1978). Transmission along and between rods in the tiger salamander retina. Journal of Physiology 280, 449–470.Google Scholar
Woodward, R.M., Polenzani, L. & Miledi, R. (1993). Characterization of bicuculline/baclofen-insensitive (ρ-like) gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes. II. Pharmacology agonists and antagonists. Molecular Pharmacology 43, 609–625.Google ScholarPubMed
Yeh, H.H., Grigorenko, E.V. & Veruki, M.L. (1996). Correlation between a bicuculline-resistant response to GABA and GABAA receptor ρ1 subunit expression in single rat retinal bipolar cells. Visual Neuroscience 13, 283–292.Google Scholar
Zhang, D., Pan, Z.-H., Zhang, X., Brideau, A.D. & Lipton, S.A. (1995). Cloning of a gamma-aminobutyric acid type C receptor subunit in rat retina with a methionine residue critical for picrotoxin channel block. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 92, 11756–11760.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed