Quantitative autoradiography of Na+-dependent [3H]L-aspartate binding to L-glutamate transporters in rat brain: structure-activity studies using L-trans-pyrrolidine-2,4-dicarboxylate (L-t-PDC) and 2-(carboxycyclopropyl)-glycine (CCG).

Sodium-dependent binding of [3H]L-aspartate was studied in thaw-mounted horizontal sections of fresh-frozen (i.e. not fixed) rat brain. After the incubation with [3H]L-aspartate, the sections were exposed against a 3H-sensitive film and the resulting autoradiograms were evaluated by quantitative densitometry. Effects of several inhibitors were examined and their potency expressed as IC50 and nH. Together with previously published data, the present study supports the view that [3H]L-aspartate binding to fresh-frozen sections of rat brain represents interaction of the radioligand with the substrate-binding sites on glutamate transporters. The most potent inhibitors were (2S,3S,4R)-2-(carboxycyclopropyl)-glycine (L-CCG III) and (2S,4R)-4-methylglutamate. In contrast, L-anti,endo-3,4-methanopyrrolidine dicarboxylate (L-a,e-MPDC) was about an order of magnitude less potent. Only subtle regional variations in the characteristics of inhibitors of [3H]L-aspartate binding were detected. It is not certain whether these differences reflect regional variations in the distribution of individual glutamate transporters or regional peculiarities in their pharmacological characteristics. In particular, (2S,4R)-4-methylglutamate, shown previously to differentiate between GLT-1 (principal glutamate transporter in the forebrain) and GLAST (expressed mainly in the cerebellum), did not strongly differentiate between the binding of [3H]L-aspartate in forebrain and cerebellum. Computer-assisted molecular modelling using selected glutamate analogues with restricted conformation (L-trans-pyrrolidine-2,4-dicarboxylate and four isomers of 2-(carboxycyclopropyl)-glycine: L- and D-CCG I, L-CCG III and L-CCG IV) identified at least one area of unfavourable steric interaction. We conclude that the quantitative autoradiographic studies using [3H]L-aspartate or other transporter-specific ligands, will be a useful tool to study the pharmacology of substrate binding sites on glutamate transporters in the mammalian brain in situ.