Early events in the trafficking of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors

2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 885-888 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.J. Wenthold ◽  
N. Sans ◽  
S. Standley ◽  
K. Prybylowski ◽  
R.S. Petralia

The N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor plays a central role at excitatory synapses where it has been implicated in multiple functions associated with synaptic plasticity. While this receptor has been intensely studied with respect to its physiology and pharmacology, its cell-biological properties, such as subunit assembly, post-translational processing and trafficking in neurons, are only beginning to be addressed. Critical to many of the functions of the NMDA receptor are the multiple proteins with which it interacts. While these interactions have been most thoroughly studied with respect to the receptor at the synapse, the same proteins may also interact with the receptor much earlier in its biosynthetic pathway and play important roles in receptor trafficking from the endoplasmic reticulum to the synapse.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Locatelli ◽  
T. Soda ◽  
I. Montagna ◽  
S. Tritto ◽  
L. Botta ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Golgi cells, together with granule cells and mossy fibers, form a neuronal microcircuit regulating information transfer at the cerebellum input stage. Despite theoretical predictions, little was known about long-term synaptic plasticity at Golgi cell synapses. Here we have used whole-cell patch-clamp recordings and calcium imaging to investigate long-term synaptic plasticity at excitatory synapses impinging on Golgi cells. In acute mouse cerebellar slices, mossy fiber theta-burst stimulation (TBS) could induce either long-term potentiation (LTP) or long-term depression (LTD) at mossy fiber-Golgi cell and granule cell-Golgi cell synapses. This synaptic plasticity showed a peculiar voltage-dependence, with LTD or LTP being favored when TBS induction occurred at depolarized or hyperpolarized potentials, respectively. LTP required, in addition to NMDA channels, activation of T-type Ca2+ channels, while LTD required uniquely activation of L-type Ca2+ channels. Notably, the voltage-dependence of plasticity at the mossy fiber-Golgi cell synapses was inverted with respect to pure NMDA receptor-dependent plasticity at the neighboring mossy fiber-granule cell synapse, implying that the mossy fiber presynaptic terminal can activate different induction mechanisms depending on the target cell. In aggregate, this result shows that Golgi cells show cell-specific forms of long-term plasticity at their excitatory synapses, that could play a crucial role in sculpting the response patterns of the cerebellar granular layer.Significance statementThis paper shows for the first time a novel form of Ca2+ channel-dependent synaptic plasticity at the excitatory synapses impinging on cerebellar Golgi cells. This plasticity is bidirectional and inverted with respect to NMDA receptor-dependent paradigms, with LTD and LTP being favored at depolarized and hyperpolarized potentials, respectively. Furthermore, LTP and LTD induction requires differential involvement of T-ype and L-type voltage-gated Ca2+channels rather than the NMDA receptors alone. These results, along with recent computational predictions, support the idea that Golgi cell plasticity could play a crucial role in controlling information flow through the granular layer along with cerebellar learning and memory.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercedes Vega-Villar ◽  
Jon C. Horvitz ◽  
Saleem M. Nicola

Abstract Learning associations between environmental cues and rewards is a fundamental adaptive function. Via such learning, reward-predictive cues come to activate approach to locations where reward is available. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is essential for cued approach behavior in trained subjects, and cue-evoked excitations in NAc neurons are critical for the expression of this behavior. Excitatory synapses within the NAc undergo synaptic plasticity that presumably contributes to cued approach acquisition, but a direct link between synaptic plasticity within the NAc and the development of cue-evoked neural activity during learning has not been established. Here we show that, with repeated cue-reward pairings, cue-evoked excitations in the NAc emerge and grow in the trials prior to the detectable expression of cued approach behavior. We demonstrate that the growth of these signals requires NMDA receptor-dependent plasticity within the NAc, revealing a neural mechanism by which the NAc participates in learning of conditioned reward-seeking behaviors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yesenia Castillo-Ocampo ◽  
María Colón ◽  
Anixa Hernández ◽  
Pablo Lopez ◽  
Yamil Gerena ◽  
...  

Although the infralimbic cortex (IL) is not thought to play a role in fear acquisition, recent experiments found evidence that synaptic plasticity is occurring at ventral hippocampal (vHPC) synapses in IL during auditory fear acquisition as measured by changes in the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated currents in male rats. These electrophysiological data suggest that fear conditioning changes the expression of NMDA receptors on vHPC-to-IL synapses. To further evaluate the plasticity of NMDA receptors at this specific synapse, we injected AAV particles expressing channelrhodopsin-EYFP into the vHPC of male and female rats to label vHPC projections with EYFP. To test for NMDA receptor changes in vHPC-to-IL synapses after fear learning, we used fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to quantify synaptosomes isolated from IL tissue punches that were positive for EYFP and the obligatory GluN1 subunit. More EYFP+/GluN1+ synaptosomes with greater average expression of GluN1 were isolated from male rats exposed to auditory fear conditioning (AFC) than those exposed to context and tones only or to contextual fear conditioning (CFC), suggesting that AFC increased NMDA receptor expression in males. In a second experiment, we found that pairing the tones and shocks was required to induce the molecular changes and that fear extinction did not reverse the changes. In contrast, females showed similar levels of EYFP+/GluN1+ synaptosomes in all behavioral groups. These findings suggest that AFC induces synaptic plasticity of NMDA receptors in the vHPC-to-IL projection in males, while female rats rely on different synaptic mechanisms.


2011 ◽  
Vol 301 (2) ◽  
pp. R448-R455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Wright ◽  
Carlos Campos ◽  
Thiebaut Herzog ◽  
Mihai Covasa ◽  
Krzysztof Czaja ◽  
...  

Intraperitoneal injection of CCK reduces food intake and triggers a behavioral pattern similar to natural satiation. Reduction of food intake by CCK is mediated by vagal afferents that innervate the stomach and small intestine. These afferents synapse in the hindbrain nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) where gastrointestinal satiation signals are processed. Previously, we demonstrated that intraperitoneal (IP) administration of either competitive or noncompetitive N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists attenuates reduction of food intake by CCK. However, because vagal afferents themselves express NMDA receptors at both central and peripheral endings, our results did not speak to the question of whether NMDA receptors in the brain play an essential role in reduction of feeding by CCK. We hypothesized that activation of NMDA receptors in the NTS is necessary for reduction of food intake by CCK. To test this hypothesis, we measured food intake following IP CCK, subsequent to NMDA receptor antagonist injections into the fourth ventricle, directly into the NTS or subcutaneously. We found that either fourth-ventricle or NTS injection of the noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 was sufficient to inhibit CCK-induced reduction of feeding, while the same antagonist doses injected subcutaneously did not. Similarly fourth ventricle injection of d-3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)-1-propenyl-1-phosphoric acid (d-CPPene), a competitive NMDA receptor antagonist, also blocked reduction of food intake following IP CCK. Finally, d-CPPene injected into the fourth ventricle attenuated CCK-induced expression of nuclear c-Fos immunoreactivity in the dorsal vagal complex. We conclude that activation of NMDA receptors in the hindbrain is necessary for the reduction of food intake by CCK. Hindbrain NMDA receptors could comprise a critical avenue for control and modulation of satiation signals to influence food intake and energy balance.


Author(s):  
Zahra Lorigooini ◽  
Ali Nouri ◽  
Faezeh mottaghinia ◽  
Shima Balali-Dehkordi ◽  
Elham Bijad ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundExperiencing early-life stress plays an important role in the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders. Ferulic acid is a phenolic compound found in some plants which has several pharmacological properties. N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are involved in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. In this study we aimed to assess the anxiolytic-like effect of ferulic acid in a mouse model of maternal separation (MS) stress by focusing on the possible involvement of NMDA receptors.MethodsMice were treated with ferulic acid (5 and 40 mg/kg) alone and in combination with NMDA receptor agonist/antagonist. Valid behavioral tests were performed, including open field test (OFT) and elevated plus maze test (EPM), while quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to evaluate gene expression of NMDA subunits (GluN2A and GluN2B) in the hippocampus.ResultsFindings showed that treatment of MS mice with ferulic acid increased the time spent in the central zone of the OFT and increased both open arm time and the percent of open arm entries in the EPM. Ferulic acid reduced the expression of NMDA receptor subunit genes. We showed that administration of NMDA receptor agonist (NMDA) and antagonist (ketamine) exerted anxiogenic and anxiolytic-like effects, correspondingly. Results showed that co-administration of a sub-effective dose of ferulic acid plus ketamine potentiated the anxiolytic-like effect of ferulic acid. Furthermore, co-administration of an effective dose of ferulic acid plus NMDA receptor agonist (NMDA) attenuated the anxiolytic-like effect of ferulic acid.ConclusionsIn deduction, our findings showed that NMDA, partially at least, is involved in the anxiolytic-like effect of ferulic acid in the OFT and EPM tests.


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