Distribution of the creatine transporter throughout the human brain reveals a spectrum of creatine transporter immunoreactivity.
Creatine is a molecule that supports energy metabolism in cells. It is carried across the plasma membrane by the creatine transporter. There has been recent interest in creatine for its neuroprotective effects in neurodegenerative diseases and its potential as a therapeutic agent. This study represents the first systematic investigation of the distribution of the creatine transporter in the human brain. We have used immunohistochemical techniques to map out its location and the intensity of staining. The transporter was found to be strongly expressed, especially in the large projection neurons of the brain and spinal cord. These include the pyramidal neurons in the cerebral cortex, Purkinje cells in the cerebellar cortex, and motor neurons of the somatic motor and visceromotor cranial nerve nuclei and the ventral horn of the spinal cord. Many other neurons in the brain also had some degree of creatine transporter immunoreactivity. By contrast, the medium spiny neurons of the striatum and the catecholaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra and locus coeruleus, which are implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, showed a very low to almost absent level of immunoreactivity for the transporter. We propose that the distribution may reflect the energy consumption by different cell types and that the extent of creatine transporter expression is proportional to the cell's energy requirements. Furthermore, the distribution indicates that supplemented creatine would be widely taken up by brain cells, although possibly less by those cells that degenerate in Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases.
['Lowe|Matthew T J|MT|', 'Faull|Richard L M|RL|', 'Christie|David L|DL|', 'Waldvogel|Henry J|HJ|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D015153:Blotting, Western D001921:Brain D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007150:Immunohistochemistry D008297:Male D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins D008875:Middle Aged D009474:Neurons D013116:Spinal Cord
AB_10000342 AB_10000343 AB_10000347 AB_10123643 AB_2114471 AB_2157554 AB_2224402 AB_477010 AB_887872 neurodegeneration neuroenergetics phosphocreatine