Postnatal expression of GAD67.

ABSTRACT

N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor blockade promotes apoptosis at postnatal day 7 (P7) and is linked to loss of glutamic acid decarboxylase 67 (GAD67) expression in older animals. To more fully appreciate this relationship we must first understand how GAD67 is regulated postnatally. Thus, the brains of P7, P14 and P21 rats were examined for expression of GAD67 protein and we found that levels of this GABAergic marker increased steadily with age, such that by P21 there was as much as a 6-fold increase compared to P7 animals and a 1.5- to 2-fold increase compared to P14 animals, depending on the region sampled. At P7, GAD67 was almost exclusively detected in puncta, with very few cell bodies displaying this marker. In contrast, at P14 and especially P21, both puncta and cell bodies were robustly labeled. Our data indicate that adult-like expression of GAD67 emerges quite late in the postnatal period.