Co‐occurrence of calcium‐binding proteins and calcium‐permeable glutamate receptors in the primary gustatory nucleus of goldfish

Primary vagal gustatory afferents utilize glutamate as a neurotransmitter acting on AMPA/kainate receptors of second‐order neurons. Some forms of ionotropic glutamate receptors permit passage of Ca ++ ions upon activation by appropriate ligands. Calcium‐binding proteins (CaBPs) play a buffering role for regulating the concentration of intracellular calcium. In the present study, we used immunohistochemistry to examine the distribution and morphology of neurons with CaBPs, including calretinin, calbindin, and parvalbumin, and to compare this distribution with neurons exhibiting Ca ++ ‐permeable glutamate receptors as determined by kainate‐stimulated uptake of Co ++ in the vagal lobe of goldfish. Calretinin‐ and calbindin‐positive neurons occurred throughout the sensory zone including round unipolar, horizontal; and perpendicular bipolar or multipolar somata. Parvalbumin neurons were mainly round monopolar neurons, especially common in the superficial layers of the sensory zone. In the motor zone, while parvalbumin labeled nearly all motoneurons, calretinin labeled only external motoneurons. In double labeling with calretinin and parvalbumin, few neurons in the sensory layer labeled with both antisera. Immunocytochemistry following kainate‐stimulate uptake of Co ++ showed that most calretinin, but few parvalbumin immunopositive neurons also were labeled by cobalt in the central and deep layers of the sensory zone. All motoneurons were labeled by Co ++ , including those immunoreactive for calretinin or parvalbumin. These results indicate that calretinin expression is strongly correlated with calcium‐permeable ionotropic glutamate receptors in the neurons of the sensory zone of the goldfish vagal lobe, but even within this limited region, not all Ca ++ ‐permeable neurons possess any of the CaBPs examined. J. Comp. Neurol. 499:90–105, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.