LOCALIZATION OF THE ADENOSINE UPTAKE SITE IN THE HUMAN BRAIN - A COMPARISON WITH THE DISTRIBUTION OF ADENOSINE-A1-RECEPTORS

Using quantitative receptor autoradiography we investigated the distri bution of the adenosine uptake site labelled with [H-3]NBTI in post-mo rtem human brain and compared its distribution with that of the A1 ade nosine receptor labelled with [H-3]CHA. The highest levels of [H-3]NBT I binding were found in the cortex and striatum, with moderate levels in the hippocampus, globus pallidus, cerebellum and some midbrain and spinal cord nuclei. The distribution of A1 receptors and this adenosin e uptake site differed in the hippocampus where A1 receptors were high est in CA1 but the uptake site was low in CA1 and higher in the molecu lar layer of the dentate gyrus. These results define the anatomical di stribution of the high affinity NBTI sensitive adenosine uptake site i n the normal human brain.