Quantitative Analysis of Kynurenine Aminotransferase II in the Adult Rat Brain Reveals High Expression in Proliferative Zones and Corpus Callosum.

ABSTRACT: Kynurenic acid, a metabolite of the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan degradation, acts as an endogenous antagonist of alpha7 nicotinic and NMDA receptors and is implicated in a number of neurophysiological and neuropathological processes including cognition and neurodegenerative events. Therefore, kynurenine aminotransferase II (KAT II/AADAT), the enzyme responsible for the formation of the majority of neuroactive kynurenic acid in the brain, has prompted significant interest. Using immunohistochemistry, this enzyme was localized primarily in astrocytes throughout the adult rat brain, but detailed neuroanatomical studies are lacking. Here, we employed quantitative in situ hybridization to analyze the relative expression of KAT II mRNA in the brain of rats under normal conditions and 6 h af

SUBMITTER: Song C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5766363 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature