The inhibitory amino acid gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the major neurotransmitter in the globus pallidus. Although electrophysiological studies have indicated that functional GABA(B) receptors exist in rat globus pallidus, the subcellular localization of GABA(B) receptor subunits and their spatial relationship to glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses are unknown. Here, we use pre-embedding ...

Huntingtin-associated protein 1 (HAP1) is a neural huntingtin interactor that is widely expressed as a core molecule of the stigmoid body (a neurocytoplasmic inclusion) in the limbic and hypothalamic regions and has putative protective functions against some neurodegenerative diseases (HAP1 protection hypothesis). Although HAP1 has been reported to be intimately associated with several steroid ...

The globus pallidus occupies a critical position in the 'indirect' pathway of the basal ganglia and, as such, plays an important role in the modulation of movement. In recent years, the importance of the globus pallidus in the normal and malfunctioned basal ganglia is emerging. However, the function and operation of various transmitter systems in this nucleus are largely unknown. GABA is the ma...

A long line of experimental evidence indicates that endogenous cannabinoid mechanisms play important roles in nociceptive information processing in various areas of the nervous system including the spinal cord. Although it is extensively documented that the cannabinoid-1 receptor (CB(1)-R) is strongly expressed in the superficial spinal dorsal horn, its cellular distribution is poorly defined, ...

A GABAergic component has been identified in the projection from the inferior colliculus (IC) to the medial geniculate body (MG) in cats and rats. We sought to determine if this GABAergic pathway exists in guinea pig, a species widely used in auditory research. The guinea pig IC contains GABAergic cells, but their relative abundance in the IC and their relative contributions to tectothalamic pr...

Neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) synthesize several major neurotransmitters, including dopamine (DA), GABA, and glutamate. To classify VTA single-unit neural activity from freely moving rats, we used hierarchical agglomerative clustering and probability distributions as quantitative methods. After many parameters were examined, a firing rate of 10 Hz emerged as a transition frequency...

functions. However, the mechanisms of GABAergic neurogenesis in the midbrain are not well understood. Previously, it has been shown that Ascl1 is required for development of GABAergic neurons in the midbrain. Here we have characterized in more detail the role of Ascl1 in the development of distinct subpopulations of midbrain GABAergic neurons. In Ascl1-null mutants GABAergic neurons are complet...

Presynaptic metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) show a highly selective expression and subcellular location in nerve terminals modulating neurotransmitter release. We have demonstrated that alternatively spliced variants of mGluR8, mGluR8a and mGluR8b, have an overlapping distribution in the hippocampus, and besides perforant path terminals, they are expressed in the presynaptic active zo...

Electrophysiological data from the rodent whisker/barrel cortex indicate that GABAergic, presumed inhibitory, neurons respond more vigorously to stimulation than glutamatergic, presumed excitatory, cells. However, these data represent very small neuronal samples in restrained, anesthetized, or narcotized animals or in cortical slices. Histochemical data from primate visual cortex, stained for t...