Radioautographic evidence for an innervation of the subcommissural organ by GABA-containing nerve fibres

Abstract

Summary Light- and electron-microscopic radioautographic studies were carried out in rats after intraventricular injection of [³H]GABA to detect GABAergic elements in the subcommissural organ (SCO). This amino acid is specifically accumulated in SCO ependymocytes and numerous nerve terminals and fibres. Some labelled terminals contain clear round vesicles and large granular vesicles and sometimes display synaptic contacts on the SCO ependymocytes. They disappear after 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT) treatment or lesions of mesencephalic raphé nuclei. They are morphologically and pharmacologically similar to the serotonin-containing terminals of the basal SCO. The other labelled terminals contain exclusively clear round vesicles, are dispersed throughout the SCO and survive after the 5,7-DHT treatment or raphé nuclei lesions; some of them are in synaptic contact with neuronal elements of the basal SCO. In both SCO ependymocytes and fibres or terminals, [³H]GABA is accumulated according to the pharmacological criteria of a GABA neuronal uptake. Under the same experimental conditions [³H]glutamine and β[³H]alanine fail to label the SCO; [³H]glutamate produces a very light labelling and [³H]serotonin is accumulated only in nerve profiles of the basal SCO. These results, and the presence of a glutamate decarboxylase activity in the SCO, suggest the existence of GABA-synthesizing elements in the SCO and could indicate the possible involvement of GABA in the secretory activity of the SCO.