Glutamine as a precursor for transmitter glutamate, aspartate and GABA in the cerebellum: a role for phosphate-activated glutaminase

Phosphate-activated glutaminase is present at high levels in the cerebellar mossy fiber terminals. The role of this enzyme for the production of glutamate from glutamine in the parallel-fiber terminals is unclear. In order to address this, we used light miroscopic immunoperoxidase and electron microscopic immunogold methods to study the localization of glutamate in rat cerbellar slices incubated with physiological K+ (3 mmol/L) and depolarizing K+ (40 mmol/L) concentrations, and during depolarizing conditions with the addition of glutamine and the glutaminase inhibitor 6-diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine. During K+-induced depolarization glutamate labeling was redistributed from parallel-fiber terminals to glial cells. The nerve terminal content of glutamate was sustained when the slices were supplied with glutamine, which also reduced the accumulation of glutamate in glia. In spite of glutamine supplementation, the depolarized slices treated with 6-diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine showed depletion of glutamate from parallel-fiber terminals and accumulation in glial cells. We conclude that cerebellar parallel-fiber terminals contain a glutaminase activity enabling them to synthesize glutamate from glutamine. Our results confirm that this is also true for the mossy fiber terminals. In addition, we show that, like for glutamate, the levels of aspartate in parallel-fiber terminals and GABA in Golgi fiber terminals can be maintained during depolarization if glutamine is present. This process is dependent on the activity of a glutaminase, as it can be inhibited by 6-diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine, suggesting that the glutaminase reaction is important for glutamine to act as a precursor also for aspartate and GABA. The low levels of the kidney type of glutaminase that previously has been shown to be present in the parallel and Golgi fiber terminals could be sufficient to produce the transmitter amino acids. Alternatively, the amino acids could be produced from the liver type of glutaminase, which is not yet localized on the cellular level, or from an unknown glutminase.