PMID: 9633805Jun 20, 1998Paper

Glial cells have heart: rH1 Na+ channel mRNA and protein in spinal cord astrocytes

Glia
Joel A BlackS G Waxman

Abstract

Astrocytes in vitro express several distinct voltage-sensitive sodium currents, including tetrodotoxin (TTX)-resistant in non-stellate astrocytes and TTX-sensitive currents in stellate astrocytes. However, the molecular identity of the underlying channels, and the mechanisms that regulate their expression, have yet to be identified. Since spinal cord astrocytes in vitro express sodium currents that are nearly ten-fold greater that those of astrocytes derived from other regions, we used reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), in situ hybridization, and immunocytochemistry to search for a sodium channel mRNA and protein corresponding to a TTX-resistant channel in these cells. RT-PCR did not detect transcripts for SNS, which is known to encode a TTX-resistant current in dorsal root ganglion neurons. However, RT-PCR demonstrated the presence of rH1 mRNA in cultured spinal cord astrocytes derived from postnatal day 0 (P0) Sprague Dawley rats at 7 days in vitro and in also intact spinal cords of P0 and P7 rats. Hybridization signal for rH1 mRNA was detected by in situ hybridization cytochemistry in most non-stellate and, at varying levels, in stellate astrocytes in these cultures. Immunocytochemical studies, utilizi...Continue Reading

Citations

Aug 2, 2002·European Journal of Pharmacology·Christian Steinhäuser, Gerald Seifert
Apr 13, 2000·Brain Research. Brain Research Reviews·A Verkhratsky, C Steinhäuser
Oct 24, 2002·Brain Research. Molecular Brain Research·M RenganathanS G Waxman
Mar 21, 2000·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·S G Waxman

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