Dual-phenotype GABA/glutamate neurons in adult preoptic area: sexual dimorphism and function.

ABSTRACT: It is generally assumed that the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA and the stimulatory neurotransmitter glutamate are released from different neurons in adults. However, this tenet has made it difficult to explain how the same afferent signals can cause opposite changes in GABA and glutamate release. Such reciprocal release is a central mechanism in the neural control of many physiological processes including activation of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons, the neural signal for ovulation. Activation of GnRH neurons requires simultaneous suppression of GABA and stimulation of glutamate release, each of which occurs in response to a daily photoperiodic signal, but only in the presence of estradiol (E2). In rodents, E2 and photoperiodic signals converge in the anteroventral perive

SUBMITTER: Ottem EN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6729791 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature