γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the neostriatum. Functions of GABA are mediated by GABAA and GABAB receptors in the neostriatum. In order to investigate the developmental expression of GABA receptor subunits (GABAAα₁, GABAAα₃ and GABAAα₆; GABAAβ₂ and GABAAβ₃, and GABABR₁ and GABABR₂) in the rat neostriatum, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunofluorescence were performed. Tissues were obtained from rats on postnatal day (PND) 1, PND 7 and PND 14, and from adult rats. RT-PCR indicated that GABAAα₁ and GABAAα₆ mRNA levels were low, but that GABAAβ₂ and GABAAβ₃ mRNAs levels were high during the early postnatal period. Immunofluorescence revealed that GABAAα₁ immunoreactivity was only observed in striatal interneurons in PND 14 and in adult rats. Immunoreactivity for GABAAα₆ was only observed in PND 14 and adult animals. GABABR₁ immunoreactivity was found to be expressed by perikarya of striatal neurons at all ages examined. In contrast, GABABR₂ immunoreactivity was mainly observed in choline acetyltransferase-positive striatal interneurons in PND 14 and adult rats. The present results indicate that there are differential patterns of developmental expression of GABA receptor subunits in the neostriatum, with important implications for the development of GABA systems in rat basal ganglia.
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Lau et al. (2008) studied this question.
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