Long-term potentiation and long-term depression (LTP/LTD) can be elicited by activating N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-type glutamate receptors, typically by the coincident activity of pre- and postsynaptic neurons. The early phases of expression are mediated by a redistribution of AMPA-type glutamate receptors: More receptors are added to potentiate the synapse or receptors are removed to weaken ...

Neurotransmitter is stored in synaptic vesicles and released by exocytosis into the synaptic cleft. One of the fundamental questions in central synaptic transmission is whether a quantal packet of transmitter saturates postsynaptic receptors. To address this question, we loaded the excitatory transmitter L-glutamate via whole-cell recording pipettes into the giant nerve terminal, the calyx of H...

Glutamate receptors of the kainate-preferring subtype have recently been shown to mediate synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. The low-affinity kainate receptor subunit GluR7 was found to be nonfunctional in previous studies. We report here that the GluR7 subunit and a novel carboxy-terminal splice variant, GluR7b, are functional glutamate receptors with unique pharmacological properties. ...

L-glutamate (Glu) is the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the Central Nervous System (CNS). The glutamate receptors (GluRs) are distributed in all CNS regions and they have been classified in two big families. The first big family is formed by the ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) or ligand-gated ion channels, which allow selective crossing of ions through selective ion channels permea...

High-frequency stimulation of pyramidal cell inputs to developing (P9-12) hippocampal stratum radiatum interneurons expressing GluR2-lacking, Ca(2+)-permeable AMPA receptors produces long-term depression of synaptic transmission, if N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are blocked. Here we show that these same synapses display a remarkably versatile signal integration if postsynaptic NMDA rece...

Quantitative autoradiography was used to examine the density and distribution of excitatory amino acid (EAA) binding site subtypes in the principal sensory and spinal trigeminal nuclei of the rat trigeminal complex. The highest densities of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA), kainate and metabotropic receptors were found in the superfici...

New techniques were applied for maintaining viable motoneurons in rat cervical spinal cord slices to study electrical and morphological properties from postnatal day (PD) 2–49. Lucifer Yellow injections showed nine to 12, or more, viable motoneurons/slice at PD2, reduced to two to three in lamina IX by PD9. At PD2 and from PD14 onward healthy motoneurons were electrically similar to those of ad...

Bilirubin, a product of haemoglobin metabolism, has been suggested to damage neurons by increasing activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors when it reaches high levels in the blood [15,19], as occurs in neonatal jaundice [7]. Bilirubin is also generated in the brain following synthesis of the messenger carbon monoxide (CO) by haem oxygenase, and haem oxygenase is upregulated in Alzhe...

In Retzius neurones of the medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, kainate activates ionotropic glutamate receptors classified as AMPA/kainate receptors. Activation of the AMPA/kainate receptor-coupled cation channels evokes a marked depolarization, intracellular acidification, and increases in the intracellular concentrations of Na+ ([Na+]i) and Ca2+. Qualitatively similar changes are observed up...

Blakemore, L. J., M. Resasco, M. A. Mercado, and P. Q. Trombley. Evidence for Ca -permeable AMPA receptors in the olfactory bulb. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 290: C925–C935, 2006. First published November 2, 2005; doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00392.2005.— -Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors (AMPARs), a subtype of glutamate receptor, contribute to olfactory processing in th...