GABA- and glutamate-activated channels in green fluorescent protein-tagged gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons in transgenic mice

J Neurosci. 1999 Mar 15;19(6):2037-50. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.19-06-02037.1999.

Abstract

Mice were generated expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) promoter. Green fluorescence was observed in, and restricted to, GnRH-immunopositive neuronal somata in the olfactory bulb, ganglion terminale, septal nuclei, diagonal band of Broca (DBB), preoptic area (POA), and caudal hypothalamus, as well as GnRH neuronal dendrites and axons, including axon terminals in the median eminence and organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT). Whole-cell recordings from GFP-expressing GnRH neurons in the OVLT-POA-DBB region revealed a firing pattern among GFP-expressing GnRH neurons distinct from that of nonfluorescent neurons. Nucleated patches of GFP-expressing GnRH neurons exhibited pronounced responses to fast application of GABA and smaller responses to L-glutamate and AMPA. One-fifth of the nucleated patches responded to NMDA. The GABA-A, AMPA, and NMDA receptor channels on GnRH neurons mediating these responses may play a role in the modulation of GnRH secretory oscillations.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Action Potentials / physiology
  • Animals
  • Electrophysiology
  • Female
  • Glutamic Acid / physiology*
  • Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone / genetics
  • Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone / metabolism*
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Ion Channels / physiology*
  • Luminescent Proteins / genetics
  • Luminescent Proteins / metabolism*
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic / genetics
  • Neurons / metabolism*
  • Sequence Tagged Sites
  • gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / physiology*

Substances

  • Ion Channels
  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone
  • Glutamic Acid
  • gamma-Aminobutyric Acid