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Glutamate-Glutamine Cycle and Aging in Striatum of the Awake Rat: Effects of a Glutamate Transporter Blocker

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Abstract

This study investigated the effects of aging on the actions of a specific glutamate reuptake blocker, L-trans-pyrrolidine-2, 4-dicarboxylic acid (PDC), in extracellular glutamate and glutamine in striatum of the awake rat. Microdialysis experiments were performed on young (2–3 months), middle-aged (12–14 months), aged (27–32 months) and very aged (37 months) male Wistar rats. Local infusion of PDC (1–4 mM) in striatum increased the dialysate concentration of glutamate and decreased dialysate concentration of glutamine in all the age-groups. In young rats, decreases of dialysate glutamine were correlated with increases of dialysate glutamate. The same profile glutamine/glutamate as in young rats was found in middle-aged, aged and very aged rats, which suggests that the action of glutamate on the glutamate-glutamine cycle in striatum of the awake rat is not modified as a consequence of aging. We also found a significant correlation between the increases of glutamate produced by PDC and the basal dialysate concentration of glutamine, a relationship that did show a significant change with age. Although the significance of this latter finding remains to be elucidated, it may be important to understand the changes in glutamate-glutamine cycle during aging.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain

    Gregorio Segovia, Alberto Del Arco & Francisco Mora

  2. Department of Statistics, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain

    Luis Prieto

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  1. Gregorio Segovia
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  2. Alberto Del Arco
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  3. Luis Prieto
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  4. Francisco Mora
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Segovia, G., Del Arco, A., Prieto, L. et al. Glutamate-Glutamine Cycle and Aging in Striatum of the Awake Rat: Effects of a Glutamate Transporter Blocker. Neurochem Res 26, 37–41 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007624531077

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