Central glycine-receptors

Systemically administered glycine protects against strychnine convulsions, but not the behavioural effects of high pressure, in mice

1. The effects of intraperitoneal administration of glycine were studied on the behavioural effects of raised ambient pressure in mice, compared with the effects of such administration on the actions of chemical convulsants. 2. Glycine did not alter the onset pressures for the occurrence of tremor, myoclonic jerks or clonic convulsions, when the ambient pressure was raised using helium. 3. Glycine showed a protective action against the convulsant effects of strychnine. 4. No protective action of glycine was found against the convulsant actions of pentylenetetrazol or bicuculline. 5. It is suggested that the results provide evidence that the high pressure neurological syndrome and strychnine convulsions have different neurophysiological origins.

Glycinergic systems in the brain stem of developing and adult mice: effects of taurine

The release of glycine from slices of the brain stem and binding of strychnine to brain stem membranes were characterized in adult and developing mice. Spontaneous glycine efflux was markedly facilitated by homoexchange with exogenous glycine and moderately by heteroexchange with taurine. Potassium stimulation released more glycine from brain stem slices from adult than from 7-day-old mice. Potassium-stimulated glycine release was also potentiated by glycine and by the novel anticonvulsant taurine derivatives. One population of strychnine-binding sites was found in both mature and immature brain stem. The number of binding sites increased with age, whereas the affinity of the sites for strychnine remained the same. The glycine inhibition was stronger in adult than in developing mice. In the presence of taurine the affinity for strychnine decreased without any change in the maximal binding capacity, suggesting a competitive type of inhibition. The binding constant and maximal binding capacity of strychnine increased in the presence of NaCl (200 mM) both in adult and 7-day-old mice. The calculated IC50 values for displacement of strychnine binding by glycine, taurine and beta-alanine were higher in the presence than in the absence of sodium. The results show that the evoked release of glycine and the number of binding sites of strychnine increase during postnatal development in the mouse but that their characteristics do not change.

Convulsant-induced depression of amino acid responses in cultured mouse spinal neurones studied under voltage clamp

A two-microelectrode voltage-clamp technique was used to record membrane current responses induced by the application of the neutral amino acids, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glycine, to mouse spinal neurones maintained in cell culture. Membrane current responses to GABA were depressed by the convulsant agents, bicuculline, picrotoxin and pentylenetetrazole. Membrane current responses to glycine were depressed by the convulsant compound, strychnine. Analysis of the fluctuations in membrane current about the mean response during prolonged applications of GABA revealed that neither the conductance nor the average open-time of GABA-activated ion-channels was altered in the presence of picrotoxin or bicuculline. Pentylenetetrazole caused a reduction in the open-time of GABA-activated ion-channels but this effect alone was too small to account for the depression of the current response. A similar analysis of glycine-induced responses in the presence of strychnine revealed that the depression of glycine responses by strychnine was not associated with any changes in the conductance or average open-time of glycine-activated ion-channels. We therefore conclude that the convulsant compounds act by reducing the rate of activation of ion-channels by the neutral amino acids either through a reduction in the number of free receptors or by a change in the kinetics of channel activation.

Enhanced prolactin release by injection of glycine in the medial preoptic area (mPOA) of the rat

Injection of glycine into the medial preoptic area (mPOA) in doses of 12.5, 25 and 50 micrograms produced a marked increase in prolactin release in freely-moving male rats. Neither taurine nor beta-alanine had effect on prolactin. These amino acids were unable to modify the resting plasma LH levels. The present studies show that the mPOA is a target site for the prolactin releasing action of glycine. Furthermore, they suggest a participation of this amino acid in the mPOA mechanism for control of prolactin secretion in the rat.

Glycine receptors in the human substantia nigra as defined by [3H]strychnine binding

Specific [3H]strychnine binding was used to identify the glycine receptor macromolecular complex in human spinal cord, substantia nigra, inferior olivary nucleus, and cerebral cortex. In material from control patients a high-affinity KD (3--8 nM) was observed in the spinal cord and the substantia nigra, both the pars compacta and the pars reticulata. This is very similar to the values observed in the rat and bovine spinal cord (8 and 3 nM, respectively) and rat substantia nigra (12 nM). In the human brain the distribution of [3H]strychnine binding (at 10 nM) was: spinal cord = substantia nigra, pars compacta greater than substantia nigra, pars reticulata = inferior olivary nucleus greater than cerebral cortex. The binding capacity (Bmax) of the rat brain (substantia nigra or spinal cord) was approximately 10-fold that of the human brain. [3H]Strychnine binding was significantly decreased in the substantia nigra from Parkinson's disease patients, both in the pars compacta (67% of control) and the pars reticulata (50% of control), but not in the inferior olivary nucleus. The results were reproduced in preliminary experiment in rats with unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the medial forebrain bundle. In the substantia nigra from patients who died with Huntington's disease, [3H]strychnine binding tended to be high (150% of control, NS) in both the pars compacta and the reticulata. [3H]Strychnine binding was unaltered in the substantia nigra of patients with senile dementia. Together with previous neurophysiological and neuropharmacological findings, those results support the hypothesis of glycine receptors occurring on dopamine cell bodies and/or dendrites in the substantia nigra.

Effects of glycine, beta-alanine and diazepam upon morphine-tolerant-dependent mice

The effects in mice of glycine, beta-alanine and diazepam on the analgesic response to morphine, on the intensity of tolerance and on the physical dependence on the analgesic have been examined. The two amino acids increased the analgesic response to morphine in a dose-related manner. However, both compounds were ineffective in the analgesic test (hot plate) when administered without morphine. Diazepam was ineffective in the analgesic test and it did not alter morphine analgesia, except when administered in a high dose which decreased and analgesic response. Glycine, either in single or repeated doses, did not modify tolerance to morphine, whereas beta-alanine induced a dose-related partial antagonism, which promptly reached a plateau. Diazepam induced a small decrease in the intensity of tolerance to the analgesic. The abstinence syndrome to morphine, induced by naloxone administration to primed mice, was reduced by single doses of glycine or beta-alanine. Diazepam behaved as a weak inhibitor of the abstinence syndrome when administered at a high dose. The potentiation of morphine analgesia and the antagonism of the abstinence syndrome induced by the amino acids may be related to their hyperpolarizing action in the c.n. system. The effects of beta-alanine on morphine tolerance cannot be explained by the same mechanism.