Anti-GABRA5 monoclonal antibody, clone FQS23373

Many studies have shown that postweaning social isolation (pwSI) alters various behavioral phenotypes, including hippocampus-dependent tasks. Here, we report the comprehensive analysis of the expression of glutamatergic and GABAergic neurotransmission related genes in the distinct hippocampal subregions of pwSI rats. Male F344 rats (age, 4 wk) experienced either pwSI or group housing (controls). At 7 wk of age, the hippocampus of each rat was removed and laser-microdissected into the CA1 and CA3 layers of pyramidal cells and the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus. Subsequently, the expression of glutamatergic- and GABAergic-related genes was analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR. In the CA1 and CA3 pyramidal cell layers, 18 of 24 glutamate receptor subunit genes were at least 1.5-fold increased in expression after pwSI. In particular, the expression of several N-methyl-D-aspartate and kainate receptors (for example, Grin2a in CA1, Grik4 in CA3) was significantly increased after pwSI. In contrast, pwSI tended to decrease the expression of GABA(A) receptor subunit genes, and Gabra1, Gabra2, Gabra4, Gabra5, Gabrb2, Gabrg1, and Gabrg2 were all significantly decreased in expression compared with the levels in the group-housed rats. These results indicate a subregion specific increase of glutamate receptors and reduction of GABA(A) receptors, suggesting that the hippocampal circuits of pwSI rats may be in more excitable states than those of group-housed rats.

GABA(A) receptors are heterooligomeric ligand-gated ion channels that mediate the effect of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid. The GABA(A) receptors consist of at least 15 different receptor subunits that can be classified into 5 subfamilies (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, rho) on the basis of sequence similarity. Chromosomal mapping studies have revealed that several of the GABA(A) receptor subunit genes appear to be organized as clusters. One such cluster, which consists of the GABA(A) receptor beta 3 (GABRB3) and alpha 5 (GABRA5) subunit genes, is located in chromosome 15q11-q13. It is shown here that the GABA(A) receptor gamma 3 subunit gene (GABRG3) also maps to this region. Lambda and P1 phage clones surrounding both ends of GABRG3 were isolated; the clones derived from the 5' end of GABRG3 were linked to an existing phage contig spanning the 3' end of GABRA5. The two genes are located within 35 kb of each other and are transcribed in the same orientation. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.