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Plasticity of GABA‐ and glutamate‐containing terminals in the mouse thalamic ventrobasal complex deprived of vibrissal afferents: An immunogold‐electron microscopic study
Author(s) -
Hámori J.,
Takács J.,
Verley R.,
Petrusz P.,
FarkasBargeton E.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.903020406
Subject(s) - immunogold labelling , postsynaptic potential , biology , synaptogenesis , glutamate receptor , axon , neuroscience , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , somatosensory system , synaptic vesicle , vesicle , anatomy , ultrastructure , biochemistry , receptor , membrane
GABA and glutamate immunogold staining demonstrated that nerve cells of the thalamic ventrobasal complex (VB) of mice were positive exclusively for glutamate. None of the neuronal perikarya reacted the GABA antibody. By using alternate thin sections of the normal VB, it was also shown that large “specific” somatosensory and small corticothalamic terminals, both of which contained spherical synaptic vesicles, exhibited only glutamate‐like immunoreactivity. A third axonal type, containing flat‐ovoid synaptic vesicles, stained only for GABA. Seventy‐five days after coagulation of the vibrissal follicles in newborn mice, a characteristic multiplication of GABA positive axon terminals was observed. In addition, it was demonstrated that, similarly to modified cortical endings (Hámori et al., J. Comp. Neurol. 254:166–183, '86), many GABA positive terminals appeared as specific afferent endings, replacing the missing “specific” vibrissal afferents. This finding shows a remarkable plasticity of inhibitory GABA axons during developmental synaptogenesis and provides further evidence that the size, location, and the type of attachment of presynaptic terminals are dependent on their postsynaptic target.