Glutamate, role plasticity

NMDAR. An ionotropic receptor for glutamate. It plays a critical role in synaptic plasticity mechanisms and thus is necessary for several types of learning and memory. 

The NMDA receptor is an ionotropic glutamate receptor involved in fast excitatory neurotransmission. It plays a key role in a variety of CNS functions, most notably long-term potentiation (LTP) and neuronal plasticity, and is regulated by several mechanisms. One such mechanism involves the amino acid glycine (1). 

V-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (Ch. 15). Its receptors can be divided into three types AMPA/kainate, NMDA and metabotropic receptors. NMDA receptors are composed of two different types of subunit - NR1 and NR2. They play an important role in the induction of synaptic plasticity and excitotoxicity. 

Stimulant-induced changes in glutamate transmission have received considerable attention in recent years [32,33]. In part, this is due to glutamate s central role in plasticity and the recognition that addiction is a form of plasticity, a topic considered in the last section of this chapter. However, the... 

Anwyl, R. (1999) Metabotropic glutamate receptors electrophysiological properties and role in plasticity. Brain Res. Brain Res. Rev. 29, 83-120. 

Four main types of glutamate receptor have been identified and cloned. These are the ionotropic receptors (NMDA and alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole, AMP A, and kainate types) and a group of metabotropic receptors of which eight types have been discovered. The AMP A and kainate receptors are involved in fast excitatory transmission whereas the NMDA receptors mediate slower excitatory responses and play a more complex role in mediating synaptic plasticity. 

Sweat J (2001) The nem-onal MAP kinase cascade a biochemical signal integration system subserving synaptic plasticity and memory. J Neurochem 76 1-10 Szapiro G, Vianna MRM, McGaugh JL, Medina JH, Izquierdo 1 (2003) The role of NMDA glutamate receptors, PKA, MAPK, and CAMKll in the hippocampus in extinction of conditioned fear. Hippocampus 13 53-58... 

Massicotte G. (2000). Modification of glutamate receptors by phospholipase A2 its role in adaptive neural plasticity. Cell Mol. Life Sci. 57 1542-1550. 

---