Anticonvulsant activity of N-(p-aminobenzoyl)-1,2,3,4- tetrahydro-quinoline (NTQ), a newly synthesized ameltolide analog, was investigated with regards to efficacy and toxicity in mice. Additionally, its effect on NMDA receptors was also performed on NR1a/NR2B expressed in Xenopus oocytes. NTQ, given intraperitoneally, was able to protect the animals in both maximal electroshock seizure and pen...

Introduction: Zinc is an essential trace element that plays an important role in synaptic plasticity and modulating the activity of CNS and involve in learning and memory. Synaptic vesicle zinc in the hippocampus area exerting modulatory effects on NMDA glutamate receptor. Method: In this experiment the effects of NMDA agonist and antagonist administration intra hippocampus on passive avoidan...

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation can be neuroprotective or neurotoxic depending on receptor location. In this issue of Neuron, Martel et al. (2012) demonstrate that the C-terminal of NMDA receptor subunits also contributes critically to excitotoxicity. NMDA receptor subunits containing the GluN2B C-terminal are more lethal than those containing the GluN2A tails, regardless of loc...

NMDA receptors play important roles in learning and memory and in sculpting neural connections during development. After the period of peak cortical plasticity, NMDA receptor-mediated EPSCs (NMDAR EPSCs) decrease in duration. A likely mechanism for this change in NMDA receptor properties is the molecular alteration of NMDA receptor structure by regulation of NMDA receptor subunit gene expressio...

Non-fluorescent, double-labeling techniques were used in order to investigate whether NMDAR1 receptor subunits are localized on dopaminergic (i.e. tyrosine hydroxylase-positive) neurons of the rat substantia nigra, pars compacta. It has been found that NMDAR1 receptor subunits are highly abundant in the pars compacta neurons and their dendritic processes. It was also found that vast majority, i...

A monoclonal antibody (R1JHL) against the NR1 subunit of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor has been developed that recognizes an epitope in the region of the amino-terminal amino acids 341-561 (a region common to all splice variants of NR1). This monoclonal antibody identifies a broad band at 115 kDa in immunoblots using membranes from NR1-transfected cells and from rat brain tissue. No ...

The neurotrophin BDNF regulates the activity-dependent modifications of synaptic strength in the CNS. Physiological and biochemical evidences implicate the NMDA glutamate receptor as one of the targets for BDNF modulation. In the present study, we investigated the effect of BDNF on the expression and plasma membrane abundance of NMDA receptor subunits in cultured hippocampal neurons. Acute stim...

Calpains have been previously shown to regulate AMPA receptor properties by producing partial truncation of the C-terminal domains of several receptor subunits. We now report that NMDA receptor subunits, in particular NR2 subunits, are also subjected to calpain-mediated truncation. Treatment of synaptic membranes with calpain I resulted in truncation of both NR1 and NR2 subunits, with the appea...

Ionotropic glutamate receptors are composed of homomeric or heteromeric configurations of glutamate receptor subunits. We have cloned a member of a novel class of the rat ionotropic glutamate receptor family, termed chi-1. This subunit exhibits an average identity of 27% to NMDA subunits and 23% to non-NMDA subunits. Regional transcript levels of chi-1 are elevated just prior to and during the ...