Quantitative assessment of GABA-uptake sites in the neural lobe by electron-microscopic autoradiography

Distribution of (3H)GABA in the rat neural lobe was investigated 5 min after intracarotid administration using quantitative electron-microscopic autoradiography. Specificity of (3H)GABA-uptake was tested by pretreatment of control animals with nipecotic acid. It was concluded that, apart from a small fraction in the perivascular spaces, radioactivity was present exclusively in pituicytes. The results confirm and quantify earlier in-vitro observations; they are compared with recent immunocytochemical findings that reveal the presence of glutamate-decarboxylase-containing axons in the neural lobe. It is concluded that there may be GABAergic terminals that lack an uptake mechanism for exogenous transmitter. Nevertheless, (3H)GABA autoradiography is useful in demonstrating other functional components of GABAergic systems, i.e., glial cells.