Glutamate Receptors in Cortical Plasticity: Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Kaczmarek, Leszek, Malgorzata Kossut, and Jolanta Skangiel-Kramska.
Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Insitute, Warsaw, Poland
APStracts 2:0042P, 1996.
ABSTRACT
Glutamate receptors (GluRs) provide the major excitatory input to cortical
neurons. Four main subtypes of GluRs are distinguished, namely, [i]N[r]-
methyl-[scap]d[r]-aspartate, à-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic
acid, kainate, and metabotropic receptors. All of them have been implicated in
neuronal plasticity, and this paper reviews data that may be pertinent to the
role played by GluRs in neocortical plasticity both in adult animals as well
as during postnatal development. Emphasis is given to receptor distribution
analyzed by various means, such as physiological responses, ligand binding as
revealed by receptor autoradiography, and expression of receptor subunits at
both mRNA and protein (immunoreactivity) levels. Possible mechanisms of
involvement of GluRs in plastic changes on cortical neuron response are
reveiwed, and data on up- and downregulation of GluRs in neocortical
plasticity are summarized. Functional studies involving either activation or
blocking, and effects of such manipulation on cortical plasticity are
discussed.
APS Manuscript Number P22-6.
Article publication pending January 1997, Physiological Reviews.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 13 November 1996