Neurotransmitter mapping

Thus the neurotransmitter role of ATP is well established in the periphary and also in sensory systems but its importance in the CNS remains to be elucidated (see Burnstock 1996). That requires the development of more specific antagonists and methods of mapping its location. The strong linkage of its P2x receptors to calcium currents may also provide a role for ATP in more long-term effects such as plasticity and neuronal development and death. 

Kuhar MJ, De Souza EB, Unnerstall JR. 1986. Neurotransmitter receptor mapping by autoradiography and other methods. Annu Rev Neurosci 9 27-59. 

In 1977, BZD receptors were identified when it became possible to map their location within the CNS. They were found to be intimately related to g-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the most prevalent inhibitory neurotransmitter system in the brain, which acts in the following locations ... 

We have also studied MEF maps of several other classes of molecules and drugs, e.g. cardiotonics [59] and other drugs [70], neurotransmitters [71], sweeteners [72] etc. Satisfactory MEF-activity relationships have been found in all these cases. 

Until recently, the cerebellum was not considered to utilize DA as a neurotransmitter, and the DA present in the cerebellum was considered to serve only as a precursor for noradrenaline in afferent fibers supplied by the locus coeruleus. However, DA release and binding and dopaminergic innervation have been reported in the 1990s in the rodent cerebellum (Panagopoulos et al., 1991 Chrapusta et al., 1994), in which, as presented in the last part of this chapter, the presence of DA receptor subtypes has been repeatedly described. These findings motivated mapping studies based on tract tracing combined with TH immunohistochemistry in the rat (Ikai et al., 1992), and TH and DAT immunohistochemistry in the monkey (Melchitzky and Lewis, 2000). 

Vincent SR, Sebben M, Dumuis A, Bockaert J (1998) Neurotransmitter regulation of MAP kinase signaling in striatal neurons in primary culture. Synapse 29 29-36. 

---