Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 10, 2352-2362, Copyright © 1990 by Society for Neuroscience
Kainate receptors in the rat hippocampus: a distribution and time course of changes in response to unilateral lesions of the entorhinal cortex
J Ulas, DT Monaghan and CW Cotman
Department of Psychobiology, University of California, Irvine 92717.
The response of kainate receptors to deafferentation and subsequent
reinnervation following unilateral entorhinal cortex lesions was studied in
the rat hippocampus using quantitative in vitro autoradiography. The
binding levels of [3H]kainic acid (KA) and changes in the distribution of
KA sites were investigated in the dentate gyrus molecular layer (ML) and in
various terminal zones in the CA1 field at 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 30, and 60 d
postlesion. The data from both the ipsilateral and contralateral
hippocampus were compared with those from unoperated controls. The first
changes in KA receptor distribution were observed 21 d postlesion when the
dense band of KA receptors occupying the inner one-third of the ML expanded
into the denervated outer two- thirds of the ipsilateral ML. The spreading
of the KA receptor field into previously unoccupied zones continued 30 and
60 d postlesion. At these time points, the zone enriched in [3H]KA binding
sites became significantly (on average 50%) wider than in unoperated
controls. No changes were observed in either the distribution or binding
levels in other hippocampal areas or in the contralateral hippocampus at
any studied time point. Saturation analysis of binding in the ipsilateral
ML 60 d postlesion revealed changes in the maximum number of receptor sites
(Bmax) without changes in KA receptor affinity (Kd). The data suggest that
the elevation of the [3H]KA binding in the outer two- thirds of the ML
reflects an increase in the number of both low and high affinity receptor
binding sites. The pattern of KA receptor redistribution was similar to the
well-characterized pattern of sprouting of commissural/associational
systems from the inner one-third into the outer two-thirds of the ML after
entorhinal lesions (Zimmer, 1973; Lynch et al., 1975). This supports the
hypothesis (Geddes et al., 1985) that the KA receptor response observed in
the present study reflects postlesion reorganization of inputs within the
denervated ML and may be relevant to functional recovery of the damaged
circuits.