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Serotonin and GABA are colocalized in restricted groups of neurons in the larval sea lamprey brain: insights into the early evolution of neurotransmitter colocalization in vertebrates
Author(s) -
BarreiroIglesias Antón,
CornidePetronio María Eugenia,
Anadón Ramón,
Rodicio María Celina
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of anatomy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.932
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1469-7580
pISSN - 0021-8782
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2009.01119.x
Subject(s) - lamprey , colocalization , serotonin , neurotransmitter , neuroscience , biology , neurotransmitter systems , dopamine , larva , escape response , central nervous system , fishery , ecology , biochemistry , receptor
Colocalization of the classic neurotransmitters serotonin (5‐HT) and γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) (or the enzyme that synthesizes the latter, glutamate decarboxylase) has been reported in a few neurons of the rat raphe magnus‐obscurus nuclei. However, there are no data on the presence of neurochemically similar neurons in the brain of non‐mammalian vertebrates. Lampreys are the oldest extant vertebrates and may provide important data on the phylogeny of neurochemical systems. The colocalization of 5‐HT and GABA in neurons of the sea lamprey brain was studied using antibodies directed against 5‐HT and GABA and confocal microscopy. Colocalization of the neurotransmitters was observed in the diencephalon and the isthmus. In the diencephalon, about 87% of the serotonergic cells of the rostral tier of the dorsal thalamus (close to the zona limitans) exhibited GABA immunoreactivity. In addition, occasional cells double‐labelled for GABA and 5‐HT were observed in the hypothalamic tuberal nucleus and the pretectum. Of the three serotonergic isthmic subgroups already recognized in the sea lamprey isthmus (dorsal, medial and ventral), such double‐labelled cells were only observed in the ventral subgroup (about 61% of the serotonergic cells in the ventral subgroup exhibited GABA immunoreactivity). An equivalence between these lamprey isthmic cells and the serotonergic/GABAergic raphe cells of mammals is suggested. Present findings suggest that serotonergic/GABAergic neurons are more extensive in lampreys than in the rat and probably appeared before the separation of agnathans and gnathostomes. Cotransmission by release of 5‐HT and GABA by the here‐described lamprey brain neurons is proposed.

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