Parallel increases in [alpha-I-125]bungarotoxin binding and alpha 7 nicotinic subunit immunoreactivity during the development of rat hippocampal neurons in culture

[摘要] Previous studies have shown that hippocampal neurons cultured at high density express a-bungarotoxin binding sites and have alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit immunoreactivity [Barrantes, G,E., Rogers, A.T., Lindstrom, J. and Wonnacott, S., Brain Res., 672 (1995) 228-236]. We now examine both of these parameters in well-characterized hippocampal neurons cultured at sufficiently low densities to resolve individual neurons and their processes. The specific binding of [alpha-I-125]bungarotoxin is first detectable after 3 days in culture and increases during the next 12 days in culture, reaching a maximum of approximately 30 000 binding sites per cell. This is accompanied, over the same timecourse, by an increase in immunoreactivity for two antibodies that specifically bind to the alpha 7 subunit. Both cell bodies and processes were labelled by 9 days in culture. The timecourse of alpha 7-type nicotinic receptor expression resembles that previously described for synapse formation in hippocampal cultures. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.

[发布日期] 1997-02-07

[关键词] A7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor;cultured hippocampal neurons;immunofluorescence;[alpha-I-125]bungarotoxin binding