QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gardiner, R. B. Articles by Donly, B. C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gardiner, R. B. Articles by Donly, B. C. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Journal of Experimental Biology 205, 2605-2613 (2002)
© 2002 The Company of Biologists Limited

Cellular distribution of a high-affinity glutamate transporter in the nervous system of the cabbage looper Trichoplusia ni

Richard B. Gardiner¹, Kyrre Ullensvang², Niels C. Danbolt², Stanley Caveney³ and B. Cameron Donly^1,*

¹ Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, London, Ontario, Canada N5V 4T3
² Anatomical Institute, IMBA, University of Oslo, N-0317 Oslo, Norway
³ Department of Zoology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B7

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: donlyc{at}agr.gc.ca)

Accepted 6 June 2002

Glutamate functions as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS) and neuromuscular junctions in insects. High-affinity glutamate transporters are responsible for keeping the resting levels of excitatory amino acids below the synaptic activation threshold by removing them from the extracellular fluid, thereby preventing them from reaching toxic levels. Peptides representing the N- and C-terminal regions of a glutamate transporter cloned from the cabbage looper caterpillar (Trichoplusia ni) were synthesized and used to generate polyclonal antibodies. The antibodies produced immunohistochemical staining in both muscular and nervous system T. ni tissues. Neuromuscular junctions in the skeletal muscles produced the most intense labelling, but no visceral muscle or sensory nerves were labelled. In the CNS, the neuropile of the ganglia, but not the connectives, gave a diffuse staining. Electron microscopical examination of ganglia and neuromuscular junctions showed that the plasma membrane of glial cells, but not that of neurons was labelled, in agreement with the notion that most of the glutamate uptake sites in this insect are in glial cells.

Key words: glutamate transporter, Trichoplusia ni, insect, anti-peptide antibody, immunohistochemistry, glutamate

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				W. R. Harvey, D. Y. Boudko, M. R. Rheault, and B. A. Okech NHEVNAT: an H+ V-ATPase electrically coupled to a Na+:nutrient amino acid transporter (NAT) forms an Na+/H+ exchanger (NHE) J. Exp. Biol., February 1, 2009; 212(3): 347 - 357. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Umesh, B. N. Cohen, L. S. Ross, and S. S. Gill Functional characterization of a glutamate/aspartate transporter from the mosquito Aedes aegypti J. Exp. Biol., July 1, 2003; 206(13): 2241 - 2255. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]