[STRYCHNINE-H-3 BINDING SUGGESTS GLYCINE RECEPTORS IN THE VENTRAL TEGMENTAL AREA OF RAT-BRAIN

Abstract

[3H]Strychnine binds to membranes prepared from the ventral tegmental area of rat brain. At 4°C the binding is rapid and saturable, and can be displaced by strychnine, glycine and their analogues. Scatchard analysis showed that the KD for [3H]strychnine binding was 6.0 nM and that the density of binding sites was 17.9 pmol/g wet wt. tissue. Hill plots of the binding data showed that there were no cooperative site interactions associated with binding. [3H]Strychnine binding in the ventral tegmental area is of similar affinity to that to spinal cord membranes, although the density of binding sites is only half that in spinal cord membranes. Drug displacement studies demonstrated that [3H]stryc..