Distribution of calretinin-immunoreactivity in the rat entorhinal cortex: coexistence with GABA

Inhibitory neurons in the entorhinal cortex control information flow between the cortical areas and the hippocampus. We characterized the inhibitory circuits in the rat entorhinal cortex by analyzing the distribution of calretinin-immunoreactivity and its colocalization with glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The location of calretinin-immunoreactive (IR) neurons and terminals varies between the different layers and subfields of the entorhinal cortex. The immunopositive neurons can be divided into two major morphological classes: bipolar and multipolar, which have two or more long, aspiny or sparsely spiny dendrites that extend through several layers. In addition, there are unclassified immunopositive neurons that have large lightly stained somata. They are located primarily in layer V. Colocalization analyses with GAD and GABA revealed that approximately 40% (657 out of 1,777) of all calretinin-IR cells within the entorhinal cortex contain GAD or GABA. In layers I-III, over 90% of the calretinin-IR neurons contain GAD or GABA. In layers V-VI, however, most of the calretinin-IR neurons do not colocalize with either GAD or GABA. The distribution patterns of calretinin-immunoreactivity in the entorhinal cortex is consistent with the partitioning of the rat entorhinal cortex into six subfields. Furthermore, calretinin is expressed in a morphologically heterogeneous population of cells in the rat entorhinal cortex which includes both GABAergic and non-GABAergic neurons.