Expression of monocarboxylate transporter mct1 by brain endothelium
and glia in adult and suckling rats.
Gerhart, David Z., Bradley E. Enerson, Olga Y. Zhdankina, Richard L.
Leino, and Lester R. Drewes.
Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Anatomy and
Cell Biology, University of Minnesota, Duluth, Minnesota 55812
APStracts 4:0077E, 1997.
A polyclonal affinity purified antibody to the carboxyl-terminal end
of the rat monocarboxylate transporter MCT1 was generated in chickens
and used in immunocytochemical studies of brain tissue sections from
adult and suckling rats. The antibody identified a 48-kDa band on
immunoblots and stained tissue sections of heart, cecum, kidney, and
skeletal muscle, consistent with the reported molecular weight and
cellular expression for this transporter. In tissue sections from
adult brains, the antibody labeled brain microvessel endothelial
cells, ependymocytes, glial limiting membranes, and neuropil. In
brain sections from 3-14 day-old rats, microvessels were much more
strongly labeled and neuropil was weakly labeled compared to sections
from adults. Immunoelectron microscopy indicated that labeling was
present on both luminal and abluminal endothelial cell plasma
membranes. These results suggest that MCT1 may play an important role
in the passage of lactate and other monocarboxylates across the
blood-brain barrier and that suckling rats may be especially
dependent on this transporter to supply energy substrates to the
brain.
Received 16 December 1996; accepted in final form 18 March 1997.
APS Manuscript Number E616-6.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Endocrinol. Metab.).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1997 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 15 April 1997