Selective retrograde labeling of primary vagal afferent cell-bodies after injection of [3H]D-aspartate into the rat nucleus tractus solitarii.
A selective retrograde labeling study was performed using [3H]D-aspartate to identify putative glutamatergic and/or aspartatergic primary vagal afferent fibers. Unilateral microinjection of [3H]D-aspartate into the nucleus tractus solitarii resulted in clear visible labeling of a fraction of the neuronal cell-bodies in the nodose ganglia. The labeled cell-bodies were randomly distributed in the ganglion and more numerous labeled neurons were detected in the ipsilateral than in the contralateral ganglion (4.93% and 0.98% of the neurons sampled within the ipsi- and contralateral ganglia, respectively). These results strongly suggest that primary vagal afferent fibers may utilize excitatory amino acids as transmitters.
Département de Physiologie et Neurophysiologie-CNRS URA 205, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques Saint-Jérôme, Marseilles, France.
N
N
Schaffar
J
J
Pio
A
A
Jean
D000818:Animals; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005971:Glutamates / Q000378:metabolism; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D014316:Tritium; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*
D005971:Glutamates; D014316:Tritium; D001224:Aspartic Acid