Comparative pharmacology of the human NMDA-receptor subtypes R1-2A, R1-2B, R1-2C and R1-2D using an inducible expression system.

Pharmacological characterization of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors has been hampered by the difficulty to outwit cytotoxicity after functional expression in recombinant systems. In this study a muristerone-inducible expression system for the NNMDA-R1 subunit was used. This was combined with constitutive expression of NMDA-R2A, 2B, 2C and 2D in different cell clones.