NMDA receptor activity is important for many physiological functions, including synapse formation and alterations in synaptic strength. NMDA receptors are composed most commonly of NR1 and NR2 subunits. There are four NR2 subunits (NR2A-NR2D). NR2 subunit expression varies across both brain regions and developmental stages. The identity of the NR2 subunit within a functional NMDA receptor helps...

Functional NMDA receptors are heteromultimeric complexes of the NR1 subunit in combination with at least one of the four NR2 subunits (A-D). Coexpression of NR3A, an additional subunit of the NMDA receptor family, modifies NMDA-mediated responses. It is unclear whether NR3A interacts directly with NR1 and/or NR2 subunits and how such association might regulate the intracellular trafficking and ...

To determine the importance of the NMDA receptor (NMDAR) in pain hypersensitivity after injury, the NMDAR1 (NR1) subunit was selectively deleted in the lumbar spinal cord of adult mice by the localized injection of an adenoassociated virus expressing Cre recombinase into floxed NR1 mice. NR1 subunit mRNA and dendritic protein are reduced by 80% in the area of the virus injection, and NMDA curre...

Formation of functional N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor channels requires the essential NMDA receptor subunit NR1 and one or more of the modulatory subunits NR2A-D and in some cases an additional subunit NR3A or NR3B. Recent studies indicate that NR1 expression is regulated at translation under both physiological and pathological conditions. The rat pheochromocytoma cell line (PC12) has be...

NMDA receptors are excitatory neurotransmitter receptors critical for synaptic plasticity and neuronal development in the mammalian brain. These receptors are found highly concentrated in the postsynaptic membrane of glutamatergic synapses. To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying NMDA receptor localization, we used the yeast two-hybrid system to identify proteins expressed in the bra...

Glutamate is a major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system, and the N-methyl-D-aspartate-selective glutamate receptor (NR) consisting of the NR1 subunit and an NR2 or NR3 subunit plays crucial roles in synaptic transmission, plasticity, and learning and memory. By using a knockout mouse strain, in which the NR1 gene deletion is primarily targeted to the CA1 pyramid...

Many authors have reported the presence of serum NMDAR antibodies in varying proportions of patients with schizophrenia; however, many others have not been able to confirm this. Because of the contradictory findings reported in various studies, more definitive research on this issue is required. Hence, we have investigated the NR1 subunit of NMDAR antibodies in patients with schizophrenia (n=49...

Activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate-selective ionotropic glutamate receptors (NMDA receptors) requires two agonists, glutamate and glycine. These ligands are thought to bind to the NR2 and NR1 subunits, respectively, apparently ruling out the formation of functional homomeric receptors. However, NMDA-mediated currents are observed when the mammalian NR1 subunit is expressed alone in Xenopus laev...

Two types of subunit (an NR1 subunit and one of the NR2 subunits) are sufficient to form efficient NMDA receptors. In order to investigate whether functional receptors may contain more than one sort of NR2 subunit, NR1, NR2A and NR2D subunits were co-expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Single channel recordings from the oocytes showed, as expected, channel openings that are characteristic of NR1/NR2A...

Canonical NMDA receptors assemble from two glycine-binding NR1 subunits with two glutamate-binding NR2 subunits to form glutamate-gated excitatory receptors that mediate synaptic transmission and plasticity. The role of glycine-binding NR3 subunits is less clear. Whereas in Xenopus laevis oocytes, two NR3 subunits coassemble with two NR1 subunits to form a glycine-gated receptor, such a recepto...