Date of Award

2019-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Biological Sciences

Advisor(s)

Miranda Manuel

Abstract

Glycine acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter and a co-agonist of NMDAR at the glutamatergic synapses. Termination of glycinergic neurotransmission is achieved by glycine transporter 1 (GlyT1) and glycine transporter (GlyT2). Both transporters are expressed in the spinal cord, brainstem and cerebellum, but GlyT1 is also expressed in the retina and the forebrain. Previous studies have described the role and cyto- architecture of GlyT1 in the caudal areas of the brain and retina, but not in the structures of the forebrain. Based on our preliminary data, GlyT1 is highly expressed in the thalamus, an area involved in sensory and motor signal relay. The function, mechanism and the cell type expressing GlyT1 in this area are poorly studied and deserves to be studied. Preliminary results demonstrate that GlyT1 immunoreactivity is expressed in neurons rather than glial cells. However, the characterization of the neurons expressing GlyT1 remains unknown. Due to the dual phenotype of GABAergic and glycinergic neurons in other regions of the brain, it is hypothesized that the cells expressing GlyT1 in the thalamus are GABAergic. To address this question, we performed conventional immunohistochemistry, fluorescent and viral tracing, and transgenic mice models. Given the expression of GlyT1 in areas of the thalamus, these results suggest a better characterization of the location of GyT1 and suggest that it might have a different role aside the inhibitory role of the caudal structures of the brain. These findings will help understand the glycinergic kinetics and the overall role and function of GlyT1.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

67 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Patricia A Lozano

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