title: D-aspartate binding to the glutamate uptake site in human brain tissue--effects of leucotomy.
abstract: Binding of [3H]D-aspartate, as an indicator of glutamate uptake sites, was investigated in post-mortem human brain tissue by use of a centrifugation assay to separate free and bound ligand. Binding was displaceable, apparently saturable and to a single site, with mean KD and Bmax values of 2.3 microM and 40.3 nmol/g tissue in the frontal cortex. The method was applied to the study of tissue from frontal and temporal cortices and the caudate nucleus of five psychiatric patients who had undergone a frontal leucotomy. The effects of this neurosurgical procedure were to diminish by almost 50% the density of D-aspartate binding sites in the frontal cortex and caudate nucleus, while the temporal cortex was less affected. It is concluded that the method provides a potentially useful correlate of glutamatergic innervation in human brain tissue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Cutts
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Reynolds
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism; D011612:Psychosurgery; D018094:Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate / Q000378:metabolism*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018094:Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate; D001224:Aspartic Acid