Objective(s): Growing evidence suggests that dysfunction of the glutamatergic system and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors are involved in pathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Because AMPA receptors play a key role in plasticity synaptic regulation, positive modulation of these receptors may rescue the cognitive deficits in the AD. The aim of this study was ...

Dopamine can modulate and excite spinal locomotor networks, affect afferent transmission and increase motoneuronal excitability. One of the mechanisms whereby dopamine increases motoneuronal excitability is to potentiate AMPA channel-mediated glutamatergic transmission onto motoneurons. However, it is not known which dopaminergic receptor subtypes or the intracellular mechanisms contribute to t...

This paper proposes an ACO (ant colony optimization)-based multicast path algorithm (AMPA) to reduce the multicast communication traffic in hypercube networks. According to the high regularity of hypercube networks, an optimized distributed algorithm (Opt-AMPA) for AMPA is proposed by clustering strategy, whose time cost can fill the requirements of the actual networks. The simulation results i...

In the present study, the modulatory effect of AMPA receptors on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter current was investigated on enzymatically isolated horizontal cells of carp retina. The GABA transporter current elicited by 1 mmol/L GABA was decreased immediately after pre-application of AMPA (30 mumol/L or 3 mmol/L) for 50 s. Application of 10 mmol/L BAPTA in intracellular solution in...

The mechanisms underlying experience-dependent plasticity in the brain may depend on the AMPA subclass of glutamate receptors (AMPA-Rs). We examined the trafficking of AMPA-Rs into synapses in the developing rat barrel cortex. In vivo gene delivery was combined with in vitro recordings to show that experience drives recombinant GluR1, an AMPA-R subunit, into synapses formed between layer 4 and ...

The activity-dependent removal of AMPA receptors from synapses underlies long-term depression in hippocampal excitatory synapses. In this study, we have investigated the role of the small GTPase Rab5 during this process. We propose that Rab5 is a critical link between the signaling cascades triggered by LTD induction and the machinery that executes the activity-dependent removal of AMPA recepto...

The actions of the putative quisqualate-selective agonist DL-alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionic acid (AMPA) were examined in identified embryonic chick motoneurons using gigaseal recording techniques and compared with properties of the selective non-NMDA excitatory amino acid agonists kainate and quisqualate. Pressure application of AMPA induces an inward going current when ne...

In the 1990s there was intense interest in ionotropic glutamate receptors as therapeutic targets for diverse neurological disorders, including epilepsy. NMDA receptors were thought to play a key role in the generation of seizures, leading to clinical studies of NMDA receptor blocking drugs in epilepsy. Disappointing results dampened enthusiasm for ionotropic glutamate receptors as a therapeutic...

No direct evidence has been found for expression of functional AMPA receptors by dorsal root ganglion neurons despite immunocytochemical evidence suggesting they are present. Here we report evidence for expression of functional AMPA receptors by a subpopulation of dorsal root ganglion neurons. The AMPA receptors are most prominently located near central terminals of primary afferent fibers. AMP...

During development of the central nervous system, precise synaptic connections between presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons are formed. While significant progress has been made in our understanding of AMPA receptor trafficking during synaptic plasticity, less is known about the molecules that recruit AMPA receptors to nascent synapses during synaptogenesis. Here we identify a type II transmembr...