The expression of glutamate decarboxylase forms, GAD-65 and GAD-67,
in GABAergic cells was studied by immunocytochemistry in the retina of
the New World monkey, Cebus apella. In the innermost rows of
the inner nuclear layer (INL), somata that express GABA correspond to
about 45% of the total number of cells in the central retina and about
25% on the periphery. Three subsets of GABAergic amacrine cells were
identified along the horizontal meridian: about 5% express only GAD-65
and 40% GAD-67, and approximately 50% contain both forms of GAD. In the
INL, GAD-65 immunoreactivity was detected in broad bands around strata
1, 3, and 5. GAD-67 immunoreactivity was observed throughout all
strata. Somata that expressed GAD-67 exclusively stratified only in
narrow bands around strata 2 and 4 of the INL and colocalized with
β2 and β3 subunits of GABA-A receptor. Interplexiform and
amacrine cells that express GABA also express tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)
or nitric oxide synthase (NOS). GAD-67 colocalized with TH or NOS in
presumed amacrine cells of the inner plexiform layer (IPL) and ganglion
cell layer (GCL). GAD-65 was expressed in the TH- and
NOS-immunoreactive interplexiform and amacrine cells, respectively.
Different from what has been described in other mammals, TH and NOS
were coexpressed in some neurons, indicating a partial overlap in
retinal cell populations containing dopamine or nitric oxide in this
primate.