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Capsaicin Does Not Change Tissue Levels of Glutamic Acid, Its Uptake, or Release in the Rat Spinal Cord
Author(s) -
Singer Ernst A.,
Sperk Gunther,
Schmid Rainer
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1982.tb07916.x
Subject(s) - capsaicin , neurochemical , glutamic acid , spinal cord , chemistry , neurotransmitter , substance p , medicine , endocrinology , pharmacology , central nervous system , biochemistry , biology , amino acid , neuropeptide , neuroscience , receptor
Capsaicin treatment (50 mglkg, subcutaneous) of newborn rats resulted in a 75% decrease of substance P immunoreactivity in the dorsal spinal cord of the adult animal, but failed to affect levels of the proposed sensory neurotransmitter glutamic acid or to alter high‐affinity uptake of [ 3 H]glutamic acid into synaptosomes of the same tissue. Furthermore, capsaicin (30 μ M ) in vitro had no influence on the release of [ 3 H]glutamic acid from spinal cord P 2 fractions of untreated adult rats, but induced a marked release of substance P. The results suggest that, in contrast to substance P fibers, neurons containing glutamic acid are not sensitive to capsaicin. Eleven other neurochemical parameters measured in the spinal cord did not appear to be changed by the treatment with capsaicin, suggesting a considerable neurochemical selectivity of the lesion.