NMDA receptors have been shown to contribute to glutamate-evoked currents in oligodendrocytes. Activation of these receptors damages myelin in ischaemia, in part because they are more weakly blocked by Mg(2+) than are most neuronal NMDA receptors. This weak Mg(2+) block was suggested to reflect an unusual subunit composition including the NR2C and NR3A subunits. Here we expressed NR1/NR2C and t...

Estrogen interacts with N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors to regulate multiple aspects of morphological and functional plasticity. In the hippocampus, estrogens increase both dendritic spine density and synapse number, and NMDA antagonists block these effects. This plasticity in the hippocampus mediated by estrogen may be of particular importance in the context of aging when estrogen levels...

Hippocampal N-methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptors mediate mechanisms of cellular plasticity critical for spatial learning in rats. The present study examined the relationship between spatial learning and NMDA receptor expression in discrete neuronal populations, as well as the degree to which putative age-related changes in NMDA receptors are coupled to the effects of normal aging on spatial le...

Although the trafficking of AMPA receptors has received much recent fanfare as a mechanism for synaptic plasticity, NMDA receptors have received less attention in this regard. However, Scott et al. now show that independent regions within the cytoplasmic domains of NMDA receptor type 1 (NR1) and NMDA receptor type 2 (NR2) subunits target NMDA receptors for internalization. Interestingly, the re...

The olfactory hypothesis for salmon imprinting and homing to their natal stream is well known, but the endocrine hormonal control mechanisms of olfactory memory formation in juveniles and retrieval in adults remain unclear. In brains of hatchery-reared underyearling juvenile chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), thyrotropin-releasing hormone gene expression increased immediately after release from a...

The NMDA receptor NR1 subunit has four splice variants that differ in their C-terminal, cytoplasmic domain. We investigated the contribution of the C-terminal cassettes, C0, C1, C2, and C2', to trafficking of NR1 in heterologous cells and neurons. We identified an ER retention signal (RRR) in the C1 cassette of NR1, which is similar to the RXR motif in ATP-sensitive K(+) channels (Zerangue et a...

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...

The supraoptic nucleus (SON) of the hypothalamus contains magnocellular neurosecretory neurons (MNC) which synthesize and release the peptide hormones vasopressin and oxytocin. Glutamate is a prominent excitatory neurotransmitter in the SON and regulates MNC excitability. NMDA receptors (NMDAR), a type of ionotropic glutamate receptor, mediate synaptic plasticity of MNCs and are necessary for c...

Amyloid beta (Aβ) oligomers accumulate in the brain tissue of Alzheimer disease patients and are related to disease pathogenesis. The precise mechanisms by which Aβ oligomers cause neurotoxicity remain unknown. We recently reported that Aβ oligomers cause intracellular Ca(2+) overload and neuronal death that can be prevented by NMDA receptor antagonists. This study investigated whether Aβ oligo...