Trends in Neurosciences
INMED/TINS special issueTrophic actions of GABA on neuronal development
Introduction
Neurotransmitters have central roles in synaptic communication and convey most of the information required for operation of the brain and its networks. However, as is often the case in nature, this device is used more than once. Thus, it is now clear that GABA and glutamate operate before synapse formation (Box 1) and that, in addition to their roles in synapse communication, they have a trophic role in neuronal maturation. Recent studies also suggest that GABA is the first neurotransmitter to become functional in developing networks and provides most of the initial excitatory drive. GABA-mediated mechanisms thus have a central role both in early stages, when networks are non-existent and neurons are an ensemble of immature cells that have little communication, and later, when GABAergic synapses operate and the emerging network generates a coherent pattern of activity. In this respect, GABA provides an excellent example of the multiple forms and actions that a molecule can exert at different developmental stages. This review will examine the roles of GABA, particularly in relation to proliferation, neuronal migration, synapse formation and activity-dependent mechanisms that are essential for network construction.
Section snippets
When GABA modulates progenitor proliferation and survival
In several preparations, GABA agonists exert important but contrasting effects on cell proliferation depending on the type of precursor investigated and the type of animal assayed (e.g. rats versus mice). Thus, GABA inhibits cell-cycle progression of precursors in neurospheres and organotypic striatal slices [1], shortens the cell cycle in cortical slices [2] and decreases DNA synthesis and the number of cells that incorporate bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) in acute slices [3]. By contrast, GABA
When GABA modulates neuronal migration
Once immature neuroblasts generated in the germinal layers become postmitotic, they start to migrate into the cerebral tissue to reach their targets. In the cerebral cortex there are two different modes of migration – a radial mode for the principal pyramidal cells, and a tangential mode for the interneurons [9]. GABA, acting on several receptor subtypes (of both GABAA and GABAB subclasses), modulates migrating neuroblasts as a motility-promoting, an acceleratory or a stop signal 2, 10, 11, 12,
When GABA modulates neuronal arbour elaboration and differentiation
Spoerri [19] proposed GABA as a trophic or regulatory factor having observed that treatment of dissociated embryonic chick cortical and retinal cells using GABA (1 μM) increased the length and branching of the neurites and augmented the density of synapses. This was extended to mammalian neurons by Barbin and co-workers [20], who showed that GABAA receptor antagonists reduced the dendritic outgrowth of cultured rat hippocampal neurons (Figure 1). Subsequent studies in diverse brain structures,
When the GABA shift is activity dependent
In maturing brain, GABA exerts a depolarizing action related namely to a reverse gradient of Cl−. This transient effect is essentially due to a low expression of the neuronal Cl−-extruding K+/Cl− co-transporter KCC2 [34]. There is general agreement that the GABA switch from excitatory to inhibitory action is mediated by upregulation of the co-transporter KCC2, which extrudes Cl− and has delayed expression [35]. Whether this shift is activity dependent is at present controversial. Ganguly et al.
When knocking-out GADs does not affect brain development
This plethora of actions of GABA stands in contrast to the lack of effects of genetically deleting the enzymes that synthesize GABA. Thus, double knockdown of the GABA-synthesizing enzymes glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD)65 and GAD67 did not produce discernible disorders of brain histogenesis, including cortical layering [38]. Although this observation might suggest that neurogenesis and cell migration do not require GABAergic systems, it bears stressing that the redundancy in knockout animals
Concluding remarks
Recent observations suggest that GABA has a variety of important functions during maturation. This role is not restricted to GABA because several other transmitters can modulate essential functions in developing brain [40]. The uniqueness of GABA is epitomized by its early operation – before glutamate synapses are functional – indicating that, at least during a restricted period, GABA provides all the excitatory drive. In addition, the possibly activity-dependent shift of GABA actions following
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