Immunogold cytochemistry identifies specialized membrane domains for monocarboxylate transport in the central nervous system

An efficient exchange of lactate between different cell types (such as astrocytes and neurones) would require that lactate transporters are expressed in contiguous parts of the respective plasma membranes. To settle this issue we explored the subcellular expression pattern of monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) by use of selective antibodies and high resolution immunogold cytochemistry. We investigated whether the membrane domains containing MCT1, MCT2 and MCT4 are spatially related to each other and to other membrane domains, i.e. those containing glutamate receptors. We used retina and cerebellum as a model for our investigations. We found that MCTI was localized in the apical membrane of pigment epithelial cells and in the photoreceptor inner segment membrane in the retina. In the brain MCT1 was present in endothelial cells. MCT2 was localized in the postsynaptic membrane of parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapses and MCT4 was situated in the membrane of glial cells in the cerebellum.