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Direct suppression by odorants of ionotropic glutamate receptors in newt retinal neurons
1Department of Physiology, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Aichi, Japan. m-ohkuma@fujita-hu.ac.jp
Abstract:
Odorants are known to suppress voltage-gated channels not only in olfactory receptor cells but also in neurons of outside of the olfactory system. Here we found that odorants suppress glutamate-gated channels in newt retinal neurons using the Ca(2+) imaging technique. Bath application of 100 microM glutamate rose [Ca(2+)](i) under application of the voltage-gated Ca(2+) channel blocker. Thus, [Ca(2+)](i) rises in the neurons were most likely attributable to Ca(2+) influx via Ca(2+)-permeable glutamate-gated channels rather than voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels. A similar increase of [Ca(2+)](i) was observed by application of 100 microM NMDA and 50 microM kainate, suggesting that both NMDA and AMPA/kainate receptors were expressed in newt retinal neurons. Application of odorants, 1 mM amyl acetate and acetophenone, reversibly reduced [Ca(2+)](i) increased by glutamate, NMDA and kainate. This suggests that odorants can suppress not only voltage-gated channels but also ligand-gated channels such as NMDA and AMPA/kainate receptors.
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