Aging is known to alter many physiological processes within the brain including synaptic responses, long-term potentiation, learning, and memory. Aging has also been shown to alter the expression and distribution of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in many different brain regions, including the hippocampus. Additionally, we have recently reported that young adult rats show an activity-dependent increase in the surface expression of NMDA receptors. We have extended these observations in the present study in aged animals and have found that aged Fischer 344 rats fail to show activity-dependent changes in the surface distribution of NMDA receptors. In conjunction with this observation we have also noted that aged rats show an expression deficit in the C2 splice variant of the NR1 subunit. This subunit is preferentially shifted to the surface following stimulation in young adult animals. As the NMDA receptor is thought to play an important role in neuronal signaling, these observations suggest possible new areas of dysfunction in this receptor that might underlie age-related deficits in neuronal physiology.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.C200074200 | DOI Listing |
Biochem Soc Trans
January 2025
Departamento de Ciencias Médicas Básicas, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud-sección Medicina, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, ES-38071, Spain.
Large conductance voltage- and calcium-activated potassium channels (BK channels) are extensively found throughout the central nervous system and play a crucial role in various neuronal functions. These channels are activated by a combination of cell membrane depolarisation and an increase in intracellular calcium concentration, provided by calcium sources located close to BK. In 2001, Isaacson and Murphy first demonstrated the coupling of BK channels with N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR) in olfactory bulb neurons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiol Psychiatry
January 2025
Institute of Biology Paris-Seine, laboratory Neuroscience Paris-Seine, CNRS, INSERM, Sorbonne Université, UPMC Université Paris 06 F-75005, Paris, France. Electronic address:
Background: The persistence of cocaine-evoked adaptations relies on gene regulations within the reward circuit, especially in the ventral striatum (i.e., nucleus accumbens (NAc)).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
January 2025
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Care and Social Work, Trnava University and University Hospital, 917 02 Trnava, Slovakia.
The autoantibodies against the NR1 subunit are well known in the pathomechanism of NMDAR encephalitis. The dysfunction of the NR2 subunit could be a critical factor in this neurological disorder due to its important role in the postsynaptic pathways that direct synaptic plasticity. We report a case of paraneoplastic anti-NMDAR encephalitis presented alongside very severe illness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomedicines
December 2024
Department of Oral Biology, Semmelweis University, H-1089 Budapest, Hungary.
Background: N-methyl-D-aspartate type glutamate receptors (NMDARs) are fundamental to neuronal physiology and pathophysiology. The prefrontal cortex (PFC), a key region for cognitive function, is heavily implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders, positioning the modulation of its glutamatergic neurotransmission as a promising therapeutic target. Our recently published findings indicate that AT receptor activation enhances NMDAR activity in layer V pyramidal neurons of the rat PFC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell
January 2025
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China. Electronic address:
The cerebral cortex and hippocampus are crucial brain regions for learning and memory, which depend on activity-induced synaptic plasticity involving N-methyl-ᴅ-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). However, subunit assembly and molecular architecture of endogenous NMDARs (eNMDARs) in the brain remain elusive. Using conformation- and subunit-dependent antibodies, we purified eNMDARs from adult rat cerebral cortex and hippocampus.
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