Expression Of Norepinephrine α2A Receptor In Prefrontal Cortex Of Rats And Its Regulation To Glutamic Acid And GABA Release

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a critical role in cognitive functions such as working memory, attention regulation and response inhibition. Extensive behavioral and pharmacological studies in humans, monkeys and rodents have shown that stimulation of prefrontal cortical α2A-adrenoceptors (a2A-ARs) improves working memory. However, expression of prefrontal cortical a2A-ARs, especially in rodent, is largely unknown. Here, we investigated the expression a2A-ARs and the contribution of α2A-ARs to glutamate/GABA release in rat PFC, using double-labeling immunofluorencence technique and brain slice whole-cell recording method. Our results demonstrated that 1) α2A-ARs are extensively expressed in pyramidal neurons and interneurons in rat PFC; 2) α2A-ARs-expressing interneurons are differentially distributed throughout different layers of the PFC; 3) α2A-ARs are expressed in both Glutamatergic and GABAergic terminals in layer 5-6; 4) stimulation of presynaptic α2A-ARs suppresses glutamate and GABA release.Our studies provided the first electrophysiological evidence that presynaptic a2A-ARs did play a role in regulating glutamate/GABA release.