Abstract
The classical neurotransmitter, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and its synthesizing enzyme, glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), have been known to be present in the mammalian cerebral cortex for a relatively long time (Awapara et al., 1950; Roberts and Fenkel, 1950; Albers and Brady, 1959). Along with glutamate, GABA is the compound released in largest amounts when the cortex is subjected to depolarizing stimuli (Jasper and Koyama, 1969; Baughman and Gilbert, 1981). Immunocytochemistry has revealed the existence of a large population of neurons immu- noreactive for both GAD and GABA in the cortex of many species of mammal (Ribak, 1978; Emson and Hunt, 1981; Hendrickson et al., 1981; Peters et al., 1982; Hendry et al., 1983a; Houser et al., 1983b, 1985; Bear et al., 1985; Lin et al., 1985). Our quantitative assessments indicate that approximately 25% of the neuronal population in any area of the monkey cortex is GABA- or GAD-immunoreactive (Hendry et al., 1986c). We have also concluded (Jones and Hendry, 1986; Fig. 1) that possibly all the morphological varieties of intrinsic cortical neurons, except the population of small, presumed excitatory, dendritic-spine-bearing neurons of layer IV, are GABA-immunoreactive. Of the several varieties of pyramidal neurons in the cortex, all, from electrophysiological considerations, are undoubtedly also excitatory and it is extremely likely that they use glutamate as a transmitter (Cotman et al., 1981; Streit, 1984; Donoghue et al., 1985).
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Jones, E.G. (1988). GABA Neurons and Their Cotransmitters in the Primate Cerebral Cortex. In: Avoli, M., Reader, T.A., Dykes, R.W., Gloor, P. (eds) Neurotransmitters and Cortical Function. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0925-3_9
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