title: Kainate receptors in primary afferents to the rat gracile nucleus.
abstract: In a previous work, we demonstrated that under weak paraformaldehyde fixation, kainate receptors (KR) (GluR5/6/7) are expressed in primary afferent terminals in superficial dorsal horn. We extended our study to primary afferents to the gracile nucleus; immunostaining for GluR5/6/7 in weakly fixed sections was in puncta of variable size. In double-stained sections, the majority of immunostained puncta colocalized with synaptophysin. Because of their large size and relations with smaller puncta, single-stained for synaptophysin, these terminals were presumed to be of dorsal column primary afferents. This was confirmed by anterograde labeling with cholera toxin B and with electron microscopy, which showed that GluR5/6/7 was present in terminals with morphology of primary afferents. These observations demonstrate that expression of presynaptic KR is a general feature of primary afferents with different functional properties.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, 315 Taylor Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. SeJin_Hwang@med.unc.edu
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rustioni
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Valtschanoff
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000818:Animals; D002772:Cholera Toxin / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017729:Presynaptic Terminals / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D018092:Kainic Acid Receptors / Q000378:metabolism*; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D000097806:GluK2 Kainate Receptor; D000097808:GluK3 Kainate Receptor
chemical_list: D002772:Cholera Toxin; D018092:Kainic Acid Receptors; D000097806:GluK2 Kainate Receptor; D000097808:GluK3 Kainate Receptor