Objective: Considering that cannabinoids protect neurons against neurodegeneration, in this study, the neuroprotective effect of WIN55,212-2 in paraoxon induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells and the role of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor were evaluated. Materials and Methods: In this study PC12 cells were maintained in Dulbecco's modified eagle’s medium (DMEM+F12) culture medium supplem...

Previous studies demonstrated that corymine, an indole alkaloid isolated from the leaves of Hunter zeylanica, dose-dependently inhibited strychnine-sensitive glycine-induced currents. However, it is unclear whether this alkaloid can modulate the function of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor on which glycine acts as a co-agonist via strychnine-insensitive glycine binding sites. This study...

Amygdalar NMDA receptor activation has been implicated in the acquisition of fear memories in rats. However, little is known about the role of endogenous modulators of the NMDA receptor, such as polyamines, in pavlovian fear-conditioning learning. Therefore, in the present study we investigated whether the immediate pretraining or post-training bilateral infusion of arcaine, an antagonist of th...

With key roles in essential brain functions ranging from the basics of excitatory neurotransmission to the complexities of learning and memory, the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor can be considered one of the fundamental neurotransmitter receptors in the brain. Named for its most potent exogenous agonist, the NMDA receptor has been thoroughly characterized via electrophysiological and phar...

Zinc and magnesium are potent inhibitors of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor complex. Recent data demonstrate that both zinc and magnesium, like other NMDA receptor antagonists, exhibit antidepressant-like activity in rodent screening tests and depression models. In the present study, we investigated the effect of D-serine (agonist for the glycine(B) site of the NMDA receptor complex; 1...

Understanding the interaction between dopamine and glutamate, particularly the interaction of dopamine and NMDA receptors, may enable a more rational approach to the treatment of schizophrenia, drug addiction, and other psychiatric disorders. We show that, in prefrontal cortical neurons, dopamine D(1)-induced enhancement of NMDA receptor function depends on rapid insertion of new NMDA receptor ...

The striatum is the major input region of the basal ganglia, playing a pivotal role in the selection, initiation, and coordination of movement both physiologically and in pathophysiological situations such as Parkinson's disease. In the present study, we characterize interactions between NMDA receptors, adenosine receptors, and cAMP signaling within the striatum. Both NMDA (100 micrometer) and ...

Glutamatergic system stimulationthe nucleus accumbens shell, may affect anxiety-related behaviors, aversive learning and memory. Glutamate receptors are differentially distributed in preand postsynaptic sites contributing to neuronal communications.The present study aimed to examine the possible involvement of the NAc shell presynaptic NMDA receptors on NMDA induced responses, using the elevate...

The NMDA ionotropic glutamate receptor is ubiquitous in mammalian central neurons. Because partial agonists bind to the same site as glutamate but induce less channel activation, these compounds provide an opportunity to probe the mechanism of activation of NMDA-type glutamate receptors. Molecular dynamics simulations and site-directed mutagenesis demonstrate that the partial agonist homoquinol...

The present study was aimed to examine the possible functional relationship between melatonin and hypothalamic transmitters, endogenous opioids and excitatory amino acids in controlling gonadotropin secretion in ovariectomized estrogen-primed rats. An intravenous injection of naloxone (mu opioid receptor antagonist), N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA; NMDA receptor agonist) or luteinizing hormone-rele...