Metabolism of [3H]nipecotic acid in the rabbit retina

Nipecotic acid has been demonstrated to block the gamma-aminobutyric acid transport systems. Previous studies have shown that the uptake system is the first transmitter-specific parameter to appear during the development of the rabbit retina. Use of these observations has been made to study the influence on the development of gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors of altering the uptake mechanism by treating newborn pups with nipecotic acid to block GABA transport. The present study of the in vivo metabolism of [3H]nipecotic acid in the CNS measured the changes in the levels of [3H]nipecotic acid in both adult and newborn rabbit retinas after injection of the label into the vitreal chamber. It was found that the effective half-life of [3H]nipecotic acid in the vitreous is about 5 h for adult tissue and 3 h for newborn. In contrast, all retinal fractions retained the label longer, the effective half-lives being about 60 h (adult) and 45 h (newborn). Further, no labeled metabolites of nipecotic acid were detected in either adult or newborn tissue. This study gives evidence that the degradation of nipecotic acid in nervous tissue is minimal and suggests that, although the rate of clearance is faster in neonates, the fate of nipecotic acid in vivo may be similar in both adult and newborn tissues.