HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Correspondence: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Correspondence are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by PERRY, T. L. Articles by MacLEAN, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by PERRY, T. L. Articles by MacLEAN, J.

Aspartate-taurine imbalance in dominantly inherited olivopontocerebellar atrophy

From the Department of Pharmacology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Canada, and the Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson.

Amino acids were measured in autopsied brain from two patients who died with a dominantly inherited form of olivopontocerebellar atrophy. Neuropathologic changes found in the brain of these patients suggested a loss of cerebellar climbing fibers. The contents of aspartic acid, gamma-aminobutyric acid, and homocarnosine were reduced in the cerebellar cortex and the. dentate nucleus, while taurine content was markedly elevated in the same brain regions. These findings are compatible with the possibility that aspartic acid is the excitatory synaptic transmitter of the climbing fibers and taurine is the inhibitory neurotransmitter of one or more types of interneurons in the cerebellum.

Reprint requests should be directed to Dr. Perry at the Department of Pharmacology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1W5, Canada.

Received for publication April 30, 1976.

Supported by grants from the Medical Research Council of Canada, the Huntington's Chorea Foundation, and the National Ataxia Foundation.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. C. McKenzie, Y.-W. Juan, C. R. Thomas, N. E.J. Berman, and R. M. Klein Atrial Natriuretic Peptide-like Immunoreactivity in Neurons and Astrocytes of Human Cerebellum and Inferior Olivary Complex J. Histochem. Cytochem., November 1, 2001; 49(11): 1453 - 1468. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]