GABAergic Inhibition on Dopamine Cells of the Fish Retina: A [3H]Dopamine Release Study with Isolated Cell Fractions

Inner retinal cells including dopamine (DA) cells were isolated and fractionated from the carp (Cyprinus carpio) retina by an enzyme cell dissociation and metrizamide gradient centrifugation method. When gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) antagonists (bicuculline and picrotoxin) were added into the perfusate over such a cell fraction, they stimulated the release of [3H]DA which had been preloaded in the cell fraction. The action of GABA antagonists was dose and Ca2+ dependent. Their minimal effective concentration was very low (0.5 microM). A similar action was elicited by high K+. In the presence of excess GABA, this stimulatory action of GABA antagonists and high K+ on [3H]DA release was completely abolished. To interpret the action of GABA antagonists on DA cells, isolated cell fractions were preincubated with GABAse. After such a treatment, the stimulatory effects of GABA antagonists and high K+ on [3H]DA release were differentiated from each other; the former disappeared whereas the latter remained unchanged. The data strongly suggest that GABA inhibits the DA release from retinal DA cells and thus the GABA antagonists affect [3H]DA release from cell fractions not by a direct membrane action but by a disinhibition mechanism via GABA receptors on the DA cell bodies.