Skip Navigation



Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on November 10, 2006
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhl114
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
17/9/2060    most recent
bhl114v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Inda, M. C.
Right arrow Articles by Muñoz, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Inda, M. C.
Right arrow Articles by Muñoz, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Article

The Distribution of Chandelier Cell Axon Terminals that Express the GABA Plasma Membrane Transporter GAT-1 in the Human Neocortex

M. C. Inda 1, J. DeFelipe 2, and A. Muñoz 1 *

1 Instituto Cajal, CSIC, 28002 Madrid, Spain; Department of Cell Biology, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain
2 Instituto Cajal, CSIC, 28002 Madrid, Spain

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
A. Muñoz, E-mail: amunoz{at}cajal.csic.es


  Abstract

Chandelier cells represent a unique type of cortical GABAergic interneuron whose axon terminals (Ch-terminals) form synapses exclusively with the axon initial segments of pyramidal cells. In this study, we have used immunocytochemistry for the high-affinity plasma membrane transporter-1 (GAT-1) to analyze the distribution and density of Ch-terminals in various cytoarchitectonic and functional areas of the human neocortex. The lowest density of GAT-1-immuoreactive (-ir) Ch-terminals was detected in the primary and secondary visual (areas 17 and 18) and in the somatosensory areas (areas 3b and 1). In contrast, an intermediate density was observed in the motor area 4 and the associative frontolateral areas 45 and 46, whereas the associative frontolateral areas 9 and 10, frontal orbitary areas 11, 12, 13, 14, and 47, associative temporal areas 20, 21, 22, and 38, and cingulate areas 24 and 32 displayed the highest density of GAT-1-ir Ch-terminals. Despite these differences, the laminar distribution of GAT-1-ir Ch-terminals was similar in most cortical areas. Hence, the highest density of this transporter was observed in layer II, followed by layers III, V, VI, and IV. In most cortical areas, the density of GAT-1-ir Ch-terminals was positively correlated with the neuronal density, although a negative correlation was detected in layer III across all cortical areas. These results indicate that there are substantial differences in the distribution and density of GAT-1-ir Ch-terminals between areas and layers of the human neocortex. These differences might be related to the different functional attributes of the cortical regions examined.

Keywords: axon initial segment; cerebral cortex; GABA; inhibition; interneurons.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Cereb CortexHome page
M.C. Inda, J. DeFelipe, and A. Munoz
Morphology and Distribution of Chandelier Cell Axon Terminals in the Mouse Cerebral Cortex and Claustroamygdaloid Complex
Cereb Cortex, January 1, 2009; 19(1): 41 - 54.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.