Postnatal development of GABA-immunoreactive terminals in the reticular and ventrobasal nuclei of the rat thalamus: A light and electron microscopic study

doi:10.1016/S0306-4522(96)00376-4

Neuroscience

Volume 76, Issue 2, January 1997, Pages 503-515

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4522(96)00376-4 Get rights and content

Abstract

The postnatal development of inhibitory GABAergic circuits in the thalamic reticular and ventrobasal nuclei was studied in rats ranging from the day of birth to the end of the third postnatal week by means of a postembedding immunogold staining procedure to visualize GABA. In the reticular nucleus, GABA labeling was present from birth in cell bodies, dendrites, growth cones and a few synaptic terminals, whereas in the ventrobasal nucleus it was exclusively in axonal processes identifiable as growth cones, vesicle-rich profiles and synaptic terminals. In both nuclei, GABA-labeled synaptic terminals were, however, very scarce and immature in neonatal animals and they became numerous and morphologically mature only after the end of the second postnatal week.

These findings suggest that inhibitory synaptic responses in the somatosensory thalamus are not yet fully mature throughout the first two postnatal weeks and support the hypothesis that GABA may initially play trophic roles. The relatively late maturation of the thalamic GABAergic system may have important functional consequences, as the reticulothalamic circuits are responsible for the generation of spindle wave oscillations whose cellular mechanisms are also involved in the generation of spike-and-wave (absence) seizures in humans and in animal models.

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Postnatal development of GABA-immunoreactive terminals in the reticular and ventrobasal nuclei of the rat thalamus: A light and electron microscopic study

Abstract

Devl Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Devl Brain Res.

Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Devl Brain Res.

Devl Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Neuron

Prog. Neurobiol.

Brain Res.

Trends Neurosci.

Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Devl Brain Res.

Devl Brain Res.

Devl Brain Res.

Devl Brain Res.

Light and electron microscopical evidence for a GABAergic projection from the caudal basal forebrain to the thalamic reticular nucleus in rats

J. comp. Neurol.

GABA stimulates chemotaxis and chemokinesis of embryonic cortical neurons via calcium-dependent mechanisms

J. Neurosci.

Differential expression of the GABAA receptor complex in the dorsal thalamus and reticular nucleus: an immunohistochemical study in the adult and developing rat

Eur. J Neurosci.

The intrinsic organization of the ventroposterolateral nucleus and related thalamic reticular nucleus of the rat: a double labeling ultrastructural investigation with gamma-amino butyric acid immunogold staining and lectin conjugated horseradish peroxidase

Somatosensory Res.

Differential expression of the GABA_A receptor complex in the dorsal thalamus and reticular nucleus: an immunohistochemical study in the adult and developing rat