Flip and flop variants of AMPA receptor subunits in the human cerebellum: Implication for the selective vulnerability of Purkinje cells

We investigated the distribution of messenger RNAs coding for flip and flop splice variants of AMPA receptor subunits in the human cerebellum to deter mine the relevance of AMPA receptors in the selective vulnerability of Purk inje cells to ischemia. Purkinje cells more abundantly expressed transcript s for flip variant of GluR-A, GluR-C, and GluR-D than granule cells, wherea s transcripts for flop variants and GluR-B flip were expressed at similar l evels on Purkinje cells and granule cells. These results suggest that human Purkinje cells possess AMPA receptors of the slowly desensitizing class as compared to granule cells. This differential distribution may explain the selective vulnerability of Purkinje cells. Synapse 31:163-167, 1999. (C) 19 99 Wiley-Liss, Inc.