Coupling diverse routes of calcium entry to mitochondrial dysfunction and glutamate excitotoxicity.

ABSTRACT: Overactivation of NMDA receptors (NMDARs) is a critical early step in glutamate-evoked excitotoxic injury of CNS neurons. Distinct NMDAR-coupled pathways specified by, for example, receptor location or subunit composition seem to govern glutamate-induced excitotoxic death, but there is much uncertainty concerning the underlying mechanisms of pathway selection. Here we ask whether, and if so how, route-specific vulnerability is coupled to Ca(2+) overload and mitochondrial dysfunction, which is also a known, central component of exitotoxic injury. In cultured hippocampal neurons, overactivation of only extrasynaptic NMDARs resulted in Ca(2+) entry strong enough to promote Ca(2+) overload, which subsequently leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and cell death. Receptor composition per se appear

SUBMITTER: Stanika RI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2701040 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature