Elsevier

Brain Research

Volume 290, Issue 2, 9 January 1984, Pages 376-379
Brain Research

Preferential glutamine uptake by cochlear hair cells: implications for the afferent cochlear transmitter

https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-8993(84)90960-0Get rights and content

Abstract

The cochlear uptake of amino acids which are putative neurotransmitters, or closely-related compounds, was examined autoradiographically in the gerbil. Hair cells showed no preferential uptake of most compounds tested. However, preferential accumulation of glutamine by cochlear hair cells was striking. Vestibular hair cells showed no affinity for this amino acid. Glutamine uptake by cochlear hair cells may play an important role in afferent synaptic transmission, by providing transmitter precursor and/or by clearing the synaptic cleft.

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    Supported by NIH/NINDS Grants NS14945, NS00176, NS09823 and NS14503, and by the Research Service of the Veterans Administration.

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