Projections of Glutamate Decarboxylase Positive and Negative Cerebellar Neurons to the Pretectum in the Cat.
From: Department of Morphological Neuroscience, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Yanagido 1-1, Gifu 501-1194, Japan. hiron@cc.gifu-u.ac.jp
Neuroscience letters
- Publish Date: Jul 2006
- ISSN: 0304-3940
- Volume: 403
- Issue: 1-2
- Pages: 30-4
- Medium: Print
- Language: English
- Citation (JAMA): Nakamura Hiroyuki, Wu Rile, Watanabe Kazuko, et al. Projections of Glutamate Decarboxylase Positive and Negative Cerebellar Neurons to the Pretectum in the Cat.. Neurosci. Lett. Jul 2006;403:30-4
Abstract
The pretectum is one of the primary visual centers, and plays an important role in the visuomotor reflexes. It also receives projections from the cerebellar nuclei that are considered to regulate these reflexes. Gamma aminobutylic acid (GABA) and glutamate are supposed to be two major neurotransmitters of the projection neurons of the cerebellar nuclei. We double labeled the projecting neurons with a tracer, biotinylated dextran amine (BDA), and with an antiserum to glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), the enzyme that synthesizes GABA. The results indicated that about 40% of the pretectal-projecting neurons of the cerebellar nuclei were GAD immunoreactive. The GAD positive pretectal-projecting neurons were significantly smaller than the GAD negative projecting neurons. Our findings thus suggest the existence of two distinct cerebello-pretectal projection systems: one is mediated by GABAergic inhibitory projections, while the other is mediated by non-GABAergic, probably glutamatergic excitatory ones.
Mesh Headings (Keywords): Animals, Cats, Cerebellum, Glutamate Decarboxylase, Neurons, Superior Colliculi, Visual Pathways
Check for Full Text / PubMed Unique Identifier (PMID): 16777325
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