CELL BIOLOGY OF THE NEURON Polarity ... - Tavernarakis Lab

Cell Biology of the Neuron: Polarity, Plasticity and Regeneration, Crete 2011
Analysis of in vivo Glycine Transporter Function by
Transgenic Approaches
Deepti Lall, Heinrich Betz, Volker Eulenburg
Glycine is one of the major inhibitory neurotransmitters in caudal regions of the
central nervous system where it binds to strychnine sensitive glycine receptors.
Additionally, glycine acts as a essential co-agonist on ionotropic glutamate
receptors of the NMDA receptor subtype. To ensure neurotransmission to
proceed with high spatial and temporal resolution, the extracellular glycine
concentration has to be tightly regulated. This is achieved by two independent
transport, the predominately glial expressed glycine transporter 1 (GlyT1) and the
glycine transporter 2 (GlyT2), which is exclusively expressed by glycinergic
neurons [1]. They facilitate the uptake of glycine from the extracellular space into
the cytosol of the presynaptic terminal or sourrounding glial cells and belong to
the large family of Na+/ Cl- dependent transport proteins that includes
transporters for monoamines (seratonin, dopamine etc.) and gamma-aminobutyric
acid (GABA). The detailed analysis of the in vivo GlyT1 function has been
hampered by the fact that GlyT1 knockout mice show early postnatal lethality due
to over-inhibition of motor neurons resulting from accumulation of glycine at
glycinergic synapses. Therefore we propose to investigate the role GlyT1 in
neurotransmission by the generation of an transgenic mouse line, allowing time
and/or tissue specific overexpression of an epitope tagged GlyT1 using the
Cre/loxP system. Biochemical, immunocytochemical as well as
electrophysiological and behavorial analysis of mice with altered transporter
expression might extend our understanding of the specific roles of the GlyT1 at
inhibitory and excitatory synapses in the CNS.
Presented by: Lall, Deepti
Poster No 060
Blue Session
142