Chunk #21 — Results — Higher mRNA expression level of eleven glutamate and five GABA-A receptor subunits in the caudate nucleus as compared to the putamen in non-alcoholic controls
We compared the abundance of glutamate and GABA-A receptors in the caudate and the putamen by comparing the level of the specific mRNAs expressed by these structures (Figure 9, Table 1). Two AMPA (GluA1 and 3), one kainate (GluK5), five NMDA (GluN1, GluN2A, N2B, N2D, and N3A) and the two delta glutamate subunits were expressed at a higher level in the caudate (Figure 9) and the fold increase varied between 1.3 and 2.1 of the expression level in the putamen (Table 1). GluN3B expression level was similar in both regions but it was more frequently expressed in the caudate samples (76%) than in the putamen samples (28%). The GABA-A subunits that were expressed at higher levels in the caudate as compared to the putamen were the α1, α4, γ1, γ2, and γ3 with the fold change varying from 1.24 to 2.91. The largest difference between the two regions was observed for the α1 subunit that was expressed at about 3-fold higher level in the caudate. The GABA-A receptor α1, α2, and α3 subunits are often found in synapses, whereas the
