The distribution of GABA-transaminase-dehydrogenase activity in the myenteric plexus of rat small intestine: a histochemical analysis.
The presence and distribution of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) degradative enzyme (GABA transaminase-succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase) activity in the rat myenteric plexus was determined histochemically using laminar preparations of the small intestine. Blue-diformazan staining resulting from reduction of the tetrazolium salt, Nitro-BT, during GABA catabolism was present in a scattered population of ileal and jejunal myenteric ganglion cells, including those resembling multipolar type II and unipolar nerve cells. Such staining was almost completely prevented under conditions of GABA-T inhibition. These results indicate that GABA is enzymically degraded at specific sites in the rat enteric nervous system where it is proposed to have a neurotransmitter function.
D000612:4-Aminobutyrate Transaminase / Q000378:metabolism*; D000445:Aldehyde Oxidoreductases / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D009197:Myenteric Plexus / Q000201:enzymology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D050644:Succinate-Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase
D000445:Aldehyde Oxidoreductases; C493647:Aldh5a1 protein, rat; D050644:Succinate-Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase; D000612:4-Aminobutyrate Transaminase