ARTICLE

THE BIOSYNTHESIS AND CONTENT OF GAMMA-AMINOBUTYRIC ACID IN THE GOLDFISH RETINA

Dominic M. K. Lam ¹

¹ From the Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Goldfish retinas incubated with L-glutamate-¹⁴C (UL) were found to synthesize -aminobutyric acid-¹⁴C (GABA-¹⁴C) The accumulation of newly synthesized GABA was enhanced by physiological stimulation of the retina with flashing light; and this increase was directly proportional to the logarithm of the light intensity. The total GABA content was also higher in light-stimulated than in dark-adapted retinas, although the glutamate content remained unchanged No differences were found in the cell-free activities of glutamate decarboxylase (EC 4 1.1 15) and GABA-glutamate transaminase (EC 2.6.1.19) extracted from light-stimulated and dark-adapted retinas. These findings, together with other physiological and morphologcal evidence, suggest that GABA plays a functional role in synaptic transmission in the goldfish retina

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Schwartz, E. (1987). Depolarization without calcium can release gamma-aminobutyric acid from a retinal neuron. Science 238: 350-355 [Abstract]  
• Lam, D. M. K. (1976). Synaptic Chemistry of Identified Cells in the Vertebrate Retina. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol 40: 571-579 [Abstract]  

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