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Inhibitory neurones of a motor pattern generator in Xenopus revealed by antibodies to glycine

Nature volume 324, pages 255–257 (1986)Cite this article

Abstract

Glycine and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are inhibitory transmitters of major importance1,2. Whereas neurones using GABA as the transmitter can be visualized by immunocytochemical methods for glutamate decarboxylase (GAD)3,4 or GABA5–8, no comparable techniques have been available for the selective visualization of glycinergic neurones. We have now produced polyclonal antibodies which specifically recognize glycine in glutaral-dehyde-fixed tissue. We used these antibodies to investigate the distribution of glycine in the simple central nervous system (CNS) of the Xenopus embryo, which contains an anatomically and physiologically defined class of reciprocal inhibitory interneurones, the commissural interneurones9–11. These interneurones have an important role in the generation of the swimming motor pattern and are thought to be glycinergic11–13. The glycine antibodies specifically stain these interneurones, revealing their distribution and number in the embryo CNS. This is the first demonstration of the selective localization of glycine-like immunoreactivity in a putative glycinergic class of neurone that has been characterized physiologically, pharmacologically and anatomically.

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Author notes

  1. N. Dale

    Present address: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, 722 West 168th Street, New York, 10032, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anatomical Institute, University of Oslo, Karl Johans gate 47, N-0162, Oslo, 1, Norway

    O. P. Ottersen & J. Storm-Mathisen

  2. Department of Physiology III, Karolinska Institute, Lidingövägen 1, Stockholm, S-114 33, Sweden

    N. Dale

  3. Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UG, UK

    Alan Roberts

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  1. N. Dale
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  2. O. P. Ottersen
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  3. Alan Roberts
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  4. J. Storm-Mathisen
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Dale, N., Ottersen, O., Roberts, A. et al. Inhibitory neurones of a motor pattern generator in Xenopus revealed by antibodies to glycine. Nature 324, 255–257 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/324255a0

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