Schizophrenia: A Plausible Neurobiologic Connection In their article in the April issue of EHP, Opler et al. (2004) raise the intriguing possibility that prenatal exposure to the ubiquitous developmental neurotoxicant lead (Pb2+) may be associated with schizophrenia, an adult psychiatric disease. Although the study has certain limitations that the authors discussed, it brings to light the possi...

The symptoms of catatonia have been reported to be similar to the initial symptoms of anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis. Subsequently, this autoimmune limbic encephalitis has been noticed by many psychiatrists. For a differential diagnosis of catatonic state, it is important to detect anti-NMDAR encephalitis. This encephalitis is expected to be in remission by early detect...

OBJECTIVE Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antibody was thought to be the cause of anti-NMDAR encephalitis, with manifestations similar to catatonia and schizophrenia. Anti-NMDAR antibody in neuropsychiatric patients who had catatonia before were investigated in a follow-up evaluation. The intensity of antibody immunofluorescence was quantified and compared with healthy controls. ME...

The hippocampal N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) activity plays important roles in cognition and is a major substrate for ethanol-induced memory dysfunction. This receptor is a glutamate-gated ion channel, which is composed of NR1 and NR2 subunits in various brain areas. Although homomeric NR1 subunits form an active ion channel that conducts Na⁺ and Ca²⁺ currents, the incorporation of NR2...

Extinction of conditioned fear involves new learning that inhibits but does not eliminate the original fear memory. This inhibitory learning is thought to require activation of NMDA receptors (NMDAr) within the basolateral amygdala (BLA). However, once extinction has been learned, the role played by the BLA during subsequent extinction procedures remains unknown. The present study examined the ...

The administration of glutamatergic NMDA receptor (NMDAR) antagonists to human subjects elicits core symptoms of schizophrenia, implicating hypofunction of NMDARs in the disease process. However, identifying sensitive periods and potential cell-types of NMDAR hypofunction has proven elusive. The first strong evidence that NMDAR hypofunction occurs in cortical GABAergic interneurons during postn...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Spreading depression (SD)-like depolarizations may augment neuronal damage in neurovascular disorders such as stroke and traumatic brain injury. Spreading ischemia (SI), a particularly malignant variant of SD-like depolarization, is characterized by inverse coupling between the spreading depolarization wave and cerebral blood flow. SI has been implicated in particular in ...

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of inherited intellectual disability and results from a loss of Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). FMRP is important for mRNA shuttling and translational control and binds to proteins important for synaptic plasticity. Like many developmental disorders, FXS is associated with alterations in synaptic plasticity that may impair learning a...

N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are comprised of different subunits. NR2 subunits confer different pharmacological and biophysical properties to NMDARs. Although NR2B subunit expression is uniform throughout striatum, NR2A subunit expression is greater laterally. Pharmacologically isolated NMDAR-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents (NMDAR-EPSCs) were elicited using minimal local st...

BACKGROUND Anti- N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is a severe autoimmune disorder characterized by high intrathecal antibody synthesis. Little is known about the long-term follow-up of the cerebrospinal fluid antibody status. OBJECTIVE To describe persistent intrathecal antibody synthesis in a clinically healthy person 15 years after recovering from anti-NMDAR encephalitis. ...