Developmental loss of miniature N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor currents in NR2A knockout mice.

ABSTRACT: The N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor (NMDAR), long implicated in developmental plasticity, shows decay time kinetics that shorten postnatally as NR2A subunits are added to the receptor. Neither the mechanism nor immediate effect of this change is known. We studied developing NMDAR currents by using visual neurons in slices from NR2A knockout (NR2AKO) and WT mice. Both strains show increased dendritic levels of synaptic density scaffolding protein PSD-95 with age. Dendritic levels of NR2A increased at the same time in WT and immunoprecipitated with PSD-95. PSD-95NMDAR binding was significantly decreased in the NR2AKO. Moreover, NMDAR miniature currents (minis) were lost and rise times of NMDAR evoked currents increased in mutant mice. Age-matched WT cells showed NR2A-rich rece

SUBMITTER: Townsend M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC298774 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature