Comparative studies on the GABA-Transaminase immunoreactivity in rat and gerbil brains

gamma -Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the most important inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS), Degradation of GABA in the CNS is catalyzed by the action of GABA transaminase (GABA-T), However, the neuroanatomical characteristics of GABA-T in the gerbil, which is a useful experimental animal in neuroscience, are still unknown. Therefore, we performed a comparative analysis of the distribution of GABA-T in rat and gerbil brains using immunohistochemistry. GABA-T immunoreactive neurons were observed in the regions which contained GABAergic neurons of both animals: corpus striatum;. substantia nigra, pars reticulata; septal nucleus; and accumbens nucleus. GABA-T + neurons were restricted to layers III and V in the rat. Unlike the rat GABA-T + neurons were observed in layers II, III, and V of the gerbil cerebral cortex, These results suggest that the expression of GABA-T in the gerbil brain may be similar to that in the rat brain, except in the cerebral cortex.