Unmasking adenosine 2A receptors (A2ARs) in monkey basal ganglia output neurons using cholera toxin subunit B (CTB)

• Main Authors: Natasha Luquin, Salvador Sierra, Alberto J. Rico, Virginia Gómez-Bautista, Elvira Roda, Lorena Conte-Perales, Rafael Franco, Peter McCormick, José L. Labandeira-García, José L. Lanciego
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2012-09-01
• Series: Neurobiology of Disease
• Subjects: GPCRs; Basal ganglia; Globus pallidus; Substantia nigra; Retrograde tracing; Parkinson disease
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969996112001921

The A2AR has become a therapeutic target in Parkinson disease due to its functional role in the striatum, capable of modulating dopaminergic neurotransmission in the basal ganglia. No conclusive evidence, however, has been provided to demonstrate the existence of A2ARs in the output nuclei of the basal ganglia: the internal segment of the globus pallidus (GPi) and substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr). Using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization techniques we have confirmed the presence of A2ARs in both the striatum (medium spiny and cholinergic neurons) and the external segment of the globus pallidus (GPe), in the monkey. The antibody routinely used to label A2ARs failed to detect A2AR-positive neurons in the GPi and SNr, however, in situ hybridization showed that A2AR mRNA transcripts were indeed present in both these nuclei. Surprisingly, by labeling pallidothalamic and nigrothalamic projection neurons originating in the GPi and SNr with the neuronal retrograde tracer cholera toxin subunit B (CTB), the receptor protein was unmasked and detectable using the antibody. This unmasking of the protein was specific to CTB and not an artifact of the tracer. We have shown unequivocally that the A2AR is present in the output nuclei of the primate basal ganglia, however, to be able to detect the receptor immunohistochemically, unmasking the protein with CTB was necessary. The presence of A2ARs in the GPi and SNr suggests that these output nuclei could be targeted therapeutically in Parkinson disease to restore abnormal activity in the basal ganglia.