Serotonin receptors on astrocytes in primary cultures: effects of methysergide and fluoxetine.

A specific binding of serotonin (at least 50 fmol/mg protein) was demonstrated in mouse astrocytes in primary cultures. This binding was inhibited by methysergide and by fluoxetine.

Effects of GABA-analogues on the high-affinity uptake of GABA in astrocytes in primary cultures.

Employing primary cultures of astrocytes which seem to constitute a valid model of their in vivo counterparts, it has been demonstrated that this cell type is likely to be of importance in terminating the transmitter activity of GABA. It has been shown that the transport carrier in astrocytes is stereospecific for the C-4 hydrogens of the GABA molecule and that its structural requirements are distinct from those exhibited by the neuronal GABA carrier. beta-Proline was a selective inhibitor of GABA transport in astrocytes, whereas R-trans-4-methyl-4-aminocrotonic acid and S-nipecotic acid seemed to be selective inhibitors of neuronal GABA transport, as studied using very thin slices ("prisms") of brain cortex.

Evidence for net uptake of GABA into mouse astrocytes in primary cultures--its sodium dependence and potassium independence.

Content of GABA was measured in cultured, normal astrocytes [from the brain cortex of newborn mice] together with the effect of nonradioactive GABA on the efflux of labeled GABA from cells previously loaded with (14C)GABA. An increase of external GABA concentration from 0 to 25 micron evoked a rise of the GABA content in the cells to a level which was approximately 50 times that of the incubation medium. Neither 200 nor 2000 micron nonradioactive GABA had any effect on the rate of release of radioactivity from cells loaded with (14C)GABA.

Kinetic characteristics of the glutamate uptake into normal astrocytes in cultures.

Kinetics for uptake and release of glutamate were measured in normal, i.e., nontransformed, astrocytes in cultures obtained from the dissociated, cortex-enriched superficial parts of the brain hemispheres of newborn DBA mice.

Uptake and metabolism of GABA in astrocytes cultured from dissociated mouse brain hemispheres.

Uptake kinetics and contents of GABA in cultured, normal (i.e. nontransformed) glia cells obtained from the brain hemispheres of newborn mice were measured together with the activity of the GABA transaminase.

Intramitochondrial localization of the 4-aminobutyrate-2-oxoglutarate transaminase from ox brain.

In order to determne the intramitochondrial location of 4-aminobutyrate transaminase, mitochondria were prepared from ox brain and freed from myelin and synaptosomes by using conventional density-gradient-centrifugation techniques, and the purity was checked electron-microscopically. Inner and outer membranes and matrix were prepared from the mitochondria by large-amplitude swelling and subsequent density-grient centrifugation. The fractions were characterized by using both electron microscopy and different marker enzymes.

[Malignant histiocytic reticulosis. Effect of bleomycin by intra-arterial route. Report of a case].

A case of malignant histiocytary lymphoma treated with Bleomycyn in a 78 year old patient is reported. The results were good but not durable.

Immunochemical studies of brain glutamate decarboxylase and GABA-transaminase of six inbred strains of mice.

Six different inbred strains of mice (C57BL/6J, CBA/CaJ, CE/J, DBA/2J, LP/J and RF/J) were compared in terms of specific activities and immunochemical properties of brain L-glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) and gamma-aminobutyrate transaminase (GABA-T), the enzymes responsible for the synthesis and degradation of GABA, respectively. GAD from the brains of the different strains was indistinguishable on the basis of specific activities, double diffusion tests, immunoelectrophoresis and inhibition by antibody. However, microcomplement fixation tests showed GAD from DBA and C57BL mice to be most distinctly different from GAD extracted from the Swiss mouse, from which the original antigen was prepared and that the enzyme from the CE, LP and RF also differed.