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Quantitative Chemical Composition of Cortical GABAergic Neurons Revealed in Transgenic Venus-Expressing Rats
- Source :
- Cerebral Cortex. 18:315-330
- Publication Year :
- 2007
- Publisher :
- Oxford University Press (OUP), 2007.
-
Abstract
- Although neocortical GABAergic (gamma-aminobutyric acidergic) interneurons have been the focus of intense study, especially in the rat, a consensus view of the functional diversity and organization of inhibitory cortical neurons has not yet been achieved. To better analyze GABAergic neurons in the rat, we used a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) construct and established 2 lines of transgenic rats that coexpress Venus, a yellow fluorescent protein, with the vesicular GABA transporter. The brain GABA content from both transgenic lines was similar to the level found in wild-type rats. In the frontal cortex, Venus was expressed in >95% of GABAergic neurons, most of which also expressed at least one of 6 biochemical markers, including alpha-actitin-2, which preferentially labeled late-spiking neurogliaform cells. Taking advantage of the fact that Venus expression allows for targeted recording from all classes of nonpyramidal cells, irrespective of their somatic morphologies, we demonstrated that fast-spiking neurons, which were heterogeneous in somatic size as well as vertical dendritic projection, had relatively uniform horizontal dimensions, suggesting a cell type-specific columnar input territory. Our data demonstrate the benefits of VGAT-Venus rats for investigating GABAergic circuits, as well as the feasibility of using BAC technology in rats to label subsets of specific, genetically defined neurons.
- Subjects :
- Yellow fluorescent protein
Interneuron
Somatic cell
Cognitive Neuroscience
Transgene
Biology
Inhibitory postsynaptic potential
Synaptic Transmission
gamma-Aminobutyric acid
Animals, Genetically Modified
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Bacterial Proteins
Interneurons
medicine
Animals
Tissue Distribution
gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
Cerebral Cortex
Brain Mapping
Neural Inhibition
Rats
Cortex (botany)
Luminescent Proteins
medicine.anatomical_structure
Microscopy, Fluorescence
biology.protein
GABAergic
Neuroscience
medicine.drug
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14602199 and 10473211
- Volume :
- 18
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Cerebral Cortex
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....4a297f1022b8821b5cd95d86c3daee07