In the striatum many neurotransmitters including GABA, glutamate, acetylcholine, dopamine, nitric oxide and adenosine interact to regulate synaptic transmission. Dopamine release in the striatum is regulated by a number of pre- and postsynaptic receptors including adenosine. We have recently shown using isolated rat striatal slices, and the technique of fast cyclic voltammetry, that adenosine A...

N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are a principal subtype of excitatory ligand-gated ion channels with crucial roles in a variety of physiological and pathological processes in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). In contrast to synaptic non-NMDA receptors that rapidly internalize, synaptic NMDA receptors have been shown to be rather static. However, recent accumulating evidence give...

The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor has been implicated in activity-dependent synapse stabilization, but its role as a detector of correlated activity during development is debated. In the amphibian retinotectal system, synaptic sorting and stabilization occur throughout larval life, and map refinement is dependent on continuous NMDA receptor function. Moreover, tadpole tecta chronically t...

Using whole-cell patch-clamp techniques, we studied the interaction of open NMDA channels with tetraalkylammonium compounds: tetraethylammonium (TEA), tetrapropylammonium (TPA), tetrabutylammonium (TBA), and tetrapentylammonium (TPentA). Analysis of the blocking kinetics, concentration, and agonist dependencies using a set of kinetic models allowed us to create the criteria distinguishing the e...

This study examines possible interactions between behavioral effects and influence of N-methyl-D-aspartate acid (NMDA) receptors in 4 and 12-week streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats. Effects of NMDA receptor agonist on spatial learning were tested in control groups of rats and in rats with 4 and 12 weeks diabetes mellitus (DM). Experimental diabetes was induced by a single intravenous in...

N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are the main calcium-permeable excitatory receptors in the mammalian central nervous system. The NMDA receptor gating is complex, exhibiting multiple closed, open, and desensitized states; however, central questions regarding the conformations and energetics of the transmembrane domains as they relate to the gating states are still unanswered. Here, using s...

In the hippocampus, glutamatergic inputs to pyramidal neurons and interneurons are modulated by alpha7* and alpha3beta4* nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), respectively, present in glutamatergic neurons. This study examines how nicotinic AMPA, and NMDA receptor nAChR activities are integrated to regulate the excitability of CA1 stratum radiatum (SR) interneurons in rat hippocampal slic...

We compared the effects of different metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) agonists on pharmacologically isolated N-methyl-D-aspartate-excitatory postsynaptic currents (NMDA-EPSCs) in core nucleus accumbens neurons using conventional intracellular recording in untreated and morphine-treated rats. The rats were treated by s.c. implantation of two morphine pellets and studied over a 3- to 6-day...

NMDA receptors are widely expressed in the central nervous system and play a major role in excitatory synaptic transmission and plasticity. Here, we used atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging to visualize activation-induced structural changes in the GluN1/GluN2A NMDA receptor reconstituted into a lipid bilayer. In the absence of agonist, AFM imaging revealed two populations of particles with he...

BACKGROUND Dysregulation of N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor signaling is strongly implicated in schizophrenia. Based on the ketamine model of NMDA receptor hypoactivity, therapeutic approaches designed to maintain a sustained increase in agonist activity at the glycine site of the NMDA receptor have produced promising, although inconsistent, efficacy for negative symptoms. METHODS A revi...