Excitatory amino acid receptors in primary cultures of glial cells from the retina

Abstract

Binding of 3H-L-aspartate to membranes from retinal glial cells in primary culture was characterized. Binding kinetics showed a saturable, reversible binding to three populations of sites with KB = 40, 200, and 1,300 nM. The first two were present at 1 day in vitro (DIV), whereas the latter two were observed at 12 DIV. The possibility of the 40 nM site being neuronal cannot be discarded, since some neurons are present at 1 DIV. In 12 DIV cultures, the presence or absence of sodium determined two different pharmacological patterns, comparable to those described for electrogenic glutamate transport in Müller cells, and QA metabotropic receptors in astrocytes, respectively. Results suggest that, as has been shown for some receptors in nerve tissue, the properties of glial cell receptors undergo age-dependent changes. In turn, this could be related to changes in the function of neurotransmitter substances during development.