Cloning of a glycine receptor subtype expressed in rat brain and spinal cord during a specific period of neuronal development

Abstract
Complementary (c) DNAs encoding a glycine receptor (GlyR) isomer were cloned from libraries constructed in λZAPII with poly (A)+ RNA of neonatal rat spinal cord. Northern blot analysis revealed that RNA hybridized to the cloned cDNA is detectable only for a period of late embryonic/ early postnatal stage of the spinal cord. Moreover, other central nervous tissues, such as hippocampus and cerebral cortex, in the infant rats are also rich in this message. The ‘neonatal (N) GlyR’ has 71% homology to that of another GlyR isoform in which adult rad cord is rich (AGlyR) Injection of a single RNA transcribed from the NGlyr‐cDNA into Xenopus oocyte induced functional formation of glycine‐gated Cl channels, however, its pharmacological property differed from that of AGlyR.