Showing papers by "Diego Ruano published in 2004"

Research report Postnatal development of the a1 containing GABA A receptor subunit in rat hippocampus

Abstract: Here we have studied the developmental expression of a1 subunit of the GABAA receptor in comparison with the expression of a2 subunit and several GABAergic markers (parvalbumin (PV), calretinin (CR), somatostatin (SOM), neuropeptide Y (NPY) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)). The a1 expression (mRNA and protein) was low at birth and increased progressively until the adulthood. This expression pattern was similar to that observed for PV, opposite to that of CR (high at birth and decreased continuously until the adulthood) and differed from that observed for the a2 and neuropeptides (SOM, NPYand VIP) (in all cases, a clear peak in expression was observed at P10). We further investigated the expression of a1, PV and CR by immunohistochemistry. As expected, the a1 and the PV expression were low at birth and increased progressively until the adulthood. Both a1 and PV were co-expressed by the same interneuronal population, however, the maturation of the a1 subunit preceded to that of PV. Finally, we observed a gradient of maturation between the different fields of the hippocampus proper (CA2–3 preceded to CA1 and DG). This gradient could be related to the high expression of CR positive cells and fibers during the first 10 postnatal days, located principally in the stratum lacunosum moleculare of the CA2–3 layers. D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.