[The expressions and distribution characters of glutamate receptor subunits NR1 and GluR2 in the hippocampal formation of adult rats].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expressions and distributions of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid NMDA/ NR1 and alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4 isoxazolepropionic acid AMPA/GluR2 subunits in the hippocampal formation.


METHODS
The immunofluorescence histochemical staining was made on paraformaldehyde fixed hippocampal tissue sections for then observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy.


RESULTS
There were widely positive expressions and basically same distributions of NR1 and GluR2 in the hippocampal formation of adult rats, especially in pyramidal layer of CA1 and CA3 regions and in the interneurons of hilus fascia dentata. Positive expressions, which mainly existed in the cytomembrane and processes of the neurons, also distributed in molecular layer of CA1 and CA3 regions as well as in granule layer of dentate gyrus. However, the immunoreactive intensity of NMDA/NR1 was stronger than that of AMPA/GluR2 in molecular layer of CA3 area and in polymorphic layer of dentate gyrus.


CONCLUSIONS
The distributions of NMDA/NR1 and AMPA/GluR2 in the hippocampal formation are basically same, this suggests that they may execute cooperatively some important tasks.
Zhang
Li
L
Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Medical School of Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China.
Yu
Wei
W
Han
Tai-zhen
TZ
Xie
Wen
W
Luo
Yu
Y
D000818:Animals; D015870:Gene Expression; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D051381:Rats; D018091:Receptors, AMPA / Q000378:metabolism*; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000378:metabolism*
C409466:NR1 NMDA receptor; D018091:Receptors, AMPA; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; C104722:glutamate receptor ionotropic, AMPA 2