Aspartate immunoreactive axons in normal rat L₄ dorsal roots

The present study demonstrates that approximately 15% of the unmyelinated axons and 4% of the myelinated axons in the rat L₄ dorsal root are immunostained for the excitatory amino acid aspartate. Thus these primary afferent axons contain enough of the antigen to be labeled. This is the first report that high concentrations of aspartate characterize a subpopulation of dorsal root axons. This allows the suggestion that aspartate is a candidate transmitter for primary afferent neurons. We emphasize that these axons are demonstrated in otherwise normal animals so that changes in percentages of labeled axons in response to various stimuli are not complicated by manipulations usually necessary to demonstrate immunoreactive compounds in the cell body.