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...

Schizophrenia is a complex disorder with polygenic inheritance. The MTHFR gene (OMIM: 607093) plays an important role in the folate metabolism. It has been suggested that C677T (rs1801133) and A1298C (rs1801131) genetic polymorphisms in the MTHFR gene lead to the decreased activity of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase enzyme which may have significant effect on developing schizophrenia. W...

Angiogenesis is vitally important in diabetic wound healing. We had previously demonstrated that a Chinese 2-herb formula (NF3) significantly stimulated angiogenesis of HUVEC in wound healing. However, the molecular mechanism has not yet been elucidated. In line with this, global expression profiling of NF3-treated HUVEC was performed so as to assess the regulatory role of NF3 involved in the u...

Alternative pre-mRNA splicing is frequently used to expand the protein-coding capacity of genomes, and to regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. It is a significant challenge to decipher the molecular language of tissue-specific splicing because the inherent flexibility of these mechanisms is specified by numerous short sequence motifs distributed in introns and exons. In t...

The ionotropic glutamate receptors (N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs)) are composed of large complexes of multi-protein subunits creating ion channels in the cell plasma membranes that allow for influx or efflux of mono- or divalent cations (e.g., Ca(2+)) important for synaptic transmissions, cellular migration, and survival. Recently, we discovered the high prevalence of somatic mutation...

Ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) are large integral membrane multi-protein complexes that create ion channels in plasma membranes. Upon binding of receptor specific ligands (e.g., glutamate), increased efflux or influx of mono- or divalent cations (e.g., Ca2+) promotes synaptic transmission, cellular migration, and survival. Three classes of iGluRs were originally defined after their res...

NMDA receptors (NMDA-Rs) are ionotropic glutamate receptors, which associate with LDL-receptor-related protein-1 (LRP1) to trigger cell signaling in response to protein ligands in neurons. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that the NMDA-R is expressed by rat Schwann cells and functions independently and with LRP1 to regulate Schwann cell physiology. The NR1 (encoded by GRIN1) and NR2b (en...

During cortical development, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors (NMDARs) facilitate presynaptic terminal formation, enhance neurotransmitter release and are required in presynaptic neurons for spike-timing-dependent long-term depression (tLTD). However, the extent to which NMDARs are found within cortical presynaptic terminals has remained controversial, and the sub-synaptic localization and...

The striatum is composed predominantly of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) that integrate excitatory, glutamatergic inputs from the cortex and thalamus, and modulatory dopaminergic inputs from the ventral midbrain to influence behavior. Glutamatergic activation of AMPA, NMDA, and metabotropic receptors on MSNs is important for striatal development and function, but the roles of each of these recepto...

The primary motor cortex has an important role in the precise execution of learned motor responses. During motor learning, synaptic efficacy between sensory and primary motor cortical neurons is enhanced, possibly involving long-term potentiation and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-specific glutamate receptor function. To investigate whether NMDA receptor in the primary motor cortex can act as a co...