We examined synaptic plasticity in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus in vitro in juvenile C57Bl6 mice (28-40 days of age), housed in control conditions with minimal enrichment (Controls) or with access to an exercise wheel (Runners). LTP expression was significantly greater in slices from Runners than in those from Controls, but could be blocked by APV in both groups. LTP was significan...

NMDA receptors are well known to play an important role in synaptic development and plasticity. Functional NMDA receptors are heteromultimers thought to contain two NR1 subunits and two or three NR2 subunits. In central neurons, NMDA receptors at immature glutamatergic synapses contain NR2B subunits and are largely replaced by NR2A subunits with development. At mature synapses, NMDA receptors a...

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...

NMDA receptors interact via the extended intracellular C-terminal domain of the NR2 subunits with constituents of the postsynaptic density for purposes of retention, clustering, and functional regulation at central excitatory synapses. To examine the role of the C-terminal domain of NR2A in the synaptic localization and function of NR2A-containing NMDA receptors in hippocampal Schaffer collater...

We studied the action potential-evoked autaptic N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents (NMDA-EPSCs) using solitary cerebellar neurons cultured in microislands from wild-type (+/+), NR2A subunit knockout (NR2A-/-), and NR2C subunit knockout (NR2C-/-) mice. The peak amplitude of autaptic NMDA-EPSCs increased for all genotypes between days in vitro 8 (DIV8) and DIV...

NMDA receptors (NMDARs) containing NR2A (epsilon1) subunits are key contributors to hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) induction in adult animals and have therefore been widely implicated in hippocampus-dependent spatial learning. Here we show that mice lacking the NR2A subunit or its C-terminal intracellular domain exhibit impaired spatial working memory (SWM) but normal spatial referenc...

BACKGROUND Severe trauma can cause secondary multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and death. Oxidative stress and/or excitatory neurotoxicity are considered as the final common pathway in nerve cell injuries. Zinc is the cofactor of the redox enzyme, and the effect of the excitatory neurotoxicity is related to N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor (NMDAR). MATERIAL AND METHODS We investigat...

NMDA receptor-mediated calcium transients play a critical role in synaptogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and excitotoxicity. NMDA receptors are heteromeric complexes of NR1A combined with NR2A, NR2B, NR2C, and/or NR2D subunits. The NR2 subunits determine a variety of electrophysiological and pharmacological properties of the NMDA receptor complex. In this report, we provide evidence for the first...

NMDA receptor (NMDAR) 2A (NR2A)- and NR2B-type NMDARs coexist in synapses of CA1 pyramidal cells. Recent studies using pharmacological blockade of NMDAR subtypes proposed that the NR2A type is responsible for inducing long-term potentiation (LTP), whereas the NR2B type induces long-term depression (LTD). This contrasts with the finding in genetically modified mice that NR2B-type NMDARs induce L...

During early postnatal development in the rat hippocampus, synaptogenesis occurs in parallel with a developmental switch in the subunit composition of NMDA receptors from NR2B to NR2A. It is unclear how this switch affects the process of synaptogenesis, synapse maturation, and synapse stabilization. We investigated the role of NR2 subunits in synaptogenesis during the period in which expression...