Involvement of the glutamatergic metabotropic receptors in the regulation of glutamate uptake and extracellular excitatory amino acid levels in the striatum of chloral hydrate-anesthetized rats

Abstract The microdialysis technique was used to assess in vivo the putative functional role of metabotropic excitatory amino acid receptors in regulating extracellular levels of the excitatory amino acids glutamate and aspartate in the striatum of chloral hydrate-anesthetized rats. Addition of the metabotropic glutamate receptor antagonist (+)-α-methyl-4-carboxyphenylglycine (MCPG) (10 −3 or 4 × 10 −3 M) in the dialysis probe did not modify the basal extracellular levels of glutamate and aspartate but induced a significant dose-dependent decrease in the KCl-elicited elevation of glutamate and aspartate extracellular levels. The effect of MCPG on glutamate extracellular concentration under K + stimulation was reduced by the simultaneous superfusion of the metabotropic glutamate receptor agonist (2 S ,3 S ,4 S )-α-(carboxycyclopropyl)glycine (L-CCG) (10 −3 M) which had no significant effect when tested alone. In contrast, L-CCG alone significantly potentiated the KCl-elicited elevation of aspartate extracellular concentrations but failed to modify the MCPG effect on this amino acid concentration. In a parallel series of experiments, high-affinity glutamate uptake was measured ex vivo 20 min after an in vivo injection of 10 pmol of MCPG in the striatum. MCPG was found unable to modify the glutamate uptake rate. In vitro, MCPG (1–1000 μM) again had no effect on glutamate transport rate. These data suggest that metabotropic excitatory amino acid receptors (1) may act to increase the extracellular levels of glutamate and aspartate under depolarizing conditions, and (2) may not have a major role in the regulation of high affinity glutamate uptake under basal conditions. In addition, it can be assumed that the control of glutamate and aspartate extracellular levels may involve different metabotropic receptors.