Immunocytochemical study by two photon fluorescence microscopy of the distribution of GABAA receptor subunits in rat cerebellar granule cells in culture

An immunocytochemical investigation of the expression of alpha(1), alpha(6), beta(2/3), gamma(2) and delta subunits was performed on rat cerebellum granule cells in culture by the two photon microscopy technique. The first four subunits appear to be expressed abundantly in these cells, whereas the delta one seems to be expressed at a lower level. Another major difference in the distribution of these subunits is that whereas alpha(6), beta(2/3) and gamma(2) appear only on plasma membranes alpha(1) and delta are present mainly in the cell bodies cytoplasm. Still another difference was found in that the presence of gamma(2) on neurites is polarized, preferentially labelling neurites with the appearance of dendrites. The subunits alpha(6) and beta(2/3) appear to label all types of neurites, with beta(2/3) being by far the most heavily expressed subunit type. A final distinct characteristic is that alpha(6) and, even more, gamma(2) appear to accumulate in the cytoplasmic domains immediately below the cone of emergence of neurites. This suggests a conspicuous transport of such subunits from the site of synthesis in the cell body to the site of final expression in the neurites (dendrites and axon terminals).