VAMP-2, SNAP-25A/B and syntaxin-1 in glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses of the rat cerebellar cortex

BMC Neuroscience

Research Article

Lorenzo Bosco¹  Raffaele Cagiano²  Anna Rizzi³  Domenico Ribatti³  Beatrice Nico³  Glauco Ambrosi³  Vincenzo Benagiano³  Francesco Girolamo³  Loredana Lorusso³  Paolo Flace³ 

[1] Dipartimento Bioetica, Università Bari, 70124, Bari, Italy;Dipartimento Scienze Biomediche e Oncologia Umana - Sezione Farmacologia, Università Bari, 70124, Bari, Italy;Dipartimento Scienze Mediche di Base - Sezione di Anatomia e Istologia, Università Bari, 70124, Bari, Italy;

关键词: Cerebellar Cortex;    Granular Layer;    Axon Terminal;    Mossy Fibre;    Purkinje Neuron;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2202-12-118

 received in 2011-08-19, accepted in 2011-11-17,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to assess the distribution of key SNARE proteins in glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses of the adult rat cerebellar cortex using light microscopy immunohistochemical techniques. Analysis was made of co-localizations of vGluT-1 and vGluT-2, vesicular transporters of glutamate and markers of glutamatergic synapses, or GAD, the GABA synthetic enzyme and marker of GABAergic synapses, with VAMP-2, SNAP-25A/B and syntaxin-1.ResultsThe examined SNARE proteins were found to be diffusely expressed in glutamatergic synapses, whereas they were rarely observed in GABAergic synapses. However, among glutamatergic synapses, subpopulations which did not contain VAMP-2, SNAP-25A/B and syntaxin-1 were detected. They included virtually all the synapses established by terminals of climbing fibres (immunoreactive for vGluT-2) and some synapses established by terminals of parallel and mossy fibres (immunoreactive for vGluT-1, and for vGluT-1 and 2, respectively). The only GABA synapses expressing the SNARE proteins studied were the synapses established by axon terminals of basket neurons.ConclusionThe present study supplies a detailed morphological description of VAMP-2, SNAP-25A/B and syntaxin-1 in the different types of glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses of the rat cerebellar cortex. The examined SNARE proteins characterize most of glutamatergic synapses and only one type of GABAergic synapses. In the subpopulations of glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses lacking the SNARE protein isoforms examined, alternative mechanisms for regulating trafficking of synaptic vesicles may be hypothesized, possibly mediated by different isoforms or homologous proteins.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Benagiano et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011