Excitotoxicity is generally studied in dissociated neurons, cultured hippocampal slices, or intact animals. However, the requirements of dissociated neurons or cultured slices to use prenatal or juvenile rats seriously limit the advantages of these systems, whereas the complexity of intact animals prevents detailed molecular investigations. In the present experiments, we studied developmental c...

N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) play a critical role in transducing neuronal activity patterns into changes in synaptic strength. However, how they mediate this transduction in response to physiological stimuli has remained elusive. In particular, it has been debated whether different NMDAR subtypes play opposing signaling roles in synaptic plasticity. Using perforated patch-clamp recor...

It has been suggested that Nogo-A, a myelin-associated protein, could play a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and that Nogo-A-deficient rodents could serve as an animal model for schizophrenic symptoms. Since changes in brain laterality are typical of schizophrenia, we investigated whether Nogo-A-deficient rats showed any signs of disturbed asymmetry in cortical N-methyl-d-aspartate (N...

One major theory in learning and memory posits that the NR2B gene is a universal genetic factor that acts as rate-limiting molecule in controlling the optimal NMDA receptor's coincidence-detection property and subsequent learning and memory function across multiple animal species. If so, can memory function be enhanced via transgenic overexpression of NR2B in another species other than the prev...

Developmental changes in the composition and function of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are believed to regulate neural plasticity. For example, in songbirds, vocal learning entails NMDAR activation, and the sensitive period for such learning in zebra finches (ZFs) parallels developmental changes in NMDAR density and phenotype within several song-related brain regions. In contrast to Z...

The membrane-associated guanylate kinases [Chapsyn-110/postsynaptic density-93 (PSD-93), synapse-associated protein-90 (SAP-90)/PSD-95, and SAP-102] are believed to cluster and anchor NMDA receptors at the synapse and to play a role in signal transduction. We have investigated the developmental changes in expression of these proteins in rat hippocampus using biochemical analyses and quantitativ...

Tyrosine kinase phosphorylation plays an important role in the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP). Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a 125 kDa nonreceptor tyrosine kinase that shows decreased phosphorylation in fyn mutant mice, and Fyn plays a critical role in LTP induction. By examining the role of FAK involved in LTP induction in dentate gyrus in vivo with medial perforant path stimulatio...