UC Irvine

Previous studies have shown significantly greater GABA levels and numbers of GABAergic neurons in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICCN) of genetically epilepsy-prone rats (GEPR-9s). In the present study, in situ hybridization and emulsion autoradiographic techniques were used to determine whether there are also elevated numbers of ICCN cells that contain the 67-kD form of mRNA for the GABA synthesizing enzyme, glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), in GEPR-9s as compared to normal Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Hybridization with a 35S-labeled RNA probe complementary to a span of monkey GAD mRNA labeled cells throughout the brain including the ICCN. Labeled cells in the ICCN appeared to be of different sizes that corresponded with previous descriptions of GABAergic neurons from immunocytochemical studies. In the GEPR-9s, a larger number of GAD67 cRNA labeled neurons was observed in the ICCN as compared to SD rats. The external nucleus of the inferior colliculus was also found to contain significantly greater numbers of GAD67 cRNA labeled neurons whereas in the frontal cortex, a region of the brain that is not required for audiogenic seizure activity in GEPR-9s, there were no significant differences in hybridization between GEPR-9s and SD rats. Interestingly, within the superficial layers of the superior colliculus there was a higher density of hybridization in GEPR-9s than in SD rats indicating higher levels of GAD expression.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)