Neuroreceptor bindings and synaptic activity in visual system of monocularly enucleated rat

To study the changes in the distribution of postsynaptic benzodiazepine (BDZ) and presynaptic adenosine A(1) (AA(1)) receptors in the superior colliculus (SC) and visual cortex (VC) of rats following monocular enucleation.

The right eyes of 6-week-old Long-Evans rats were enucleated and ex vivo autoradiography was performed on the SC and VC obtained at different times up to 8 weeks after the enucleation. [14C]deoxyglucose was used to detect glucose metabolism, and [11C]flumazenil and [1-methyl-(11)C]8-dicyclopropylmethyl-1-methyl-3-propylxanthine ([11C]MPDX) were used to map BDZ and AA(1) receptors, respectively. The receptor-specific binding for 11C was determined, and 11C and 14C activities were evaluated separately in the same tissue by a double tracing method.

The uptake of [14C]deoxyglucose in the SC was depressed immediately after enucleation and gradually recovered. The binding of [11C]flumazenil to BDZ receptors in the contralateral SC was increased at week 2, and then returned to the pre-enucleation levels. The uptake of [11C]MPDX by the AA(1) receptors in the contralateral SC decreased by about 67% on day 5 after enucleation and remained low thereafter. In the contralateral VC, the uptake of [14C]deoxyglucose decreased immediately after the enucleation followed by a gradual recovery, whereas the uptake of [11C]flumazenil and [11C]MPDX was not altered.

The axon degeneration related decrease of the AA(1) receptor density resulted in a transient up-regulation of postsynaptic BDZ receptor density in monocularly enucleated adult rats. These results suggest that these radioligands can be used to study the distribution of the postsynaptic BDZ and presynaptic AA(1) receptors in the visual system and can probably be applied to the human visual system for positron emission tomography.