The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
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We examined the distribution of the group I metabotropic glutamate receptors, mGluR1alpha and mGluR5a, in the adult rat retina and during postnatal development using receptor-specific antisera. In contrast to the restricted localization of group II and group III mGluRs to either the outer plexiform layer (OPL) or the inner plexiform layer (IPL), group I mGluRs are present in both synaptic layers in the rat retina. ⋯ These results suggest that group I mGluRs are involved in synaptic processing in both plexiform layers and in both the scotopic and photopic pathways in the rat retina. We propose that mGluR1alpha and mGluR5a play an important modulatory role in the responses of retinal neurons to inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters.