Expression Of NR1 Glutamate Receptor Subunit MRNA In The Rat Vestibular End-organs

Glutamate receptor (GluR) is widespread in the central nervous system, and plays a significance role in the excitary neurotransmission. Some investigations indicate that Glutamate (Glu) may mediate the rapid signal transmisson between hair cells and nerve synapses as an afferent neurotransmitter in the inner ear. N-Methyl-D-Aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is the specific receptor of the excitory amino acids, and they will produce a marked effect when combined to each other. For the past few years, some investigations indicate that NMDAR is not only prevalent in the central nervous system, but also be invariably distributed in the distinct tissue and cells of inner ear. Nevertheless, at home and abroad, no one has used the sensitive method named combination of reverse transcription followed by polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to examine the expression and composition of the NMDAR mRNA in the rat inner ear vestibular end-organs now. Moreover, there haven't been any reports about the expression of the NMDAR mRNA in the rat inner ear at home.In this investigation, we used nest RT-PCR to examine the expression of the NR1 subunit mRNA, which is the major component of the functional NMDAR, in the rat inner ear vestibular end-organs. The brain RNA was used as positive control. As a result, NR1 subunit mRNA was detected in the rat vestibular end-organs by means of nest RT-PCR assay and sequence analysis. The result indicates that glutamate is one of the important neurotransmitters in the vestibular system.