Excitatory Amino Acids And Neuronal Plasticity (advances In Experimental Medicine And Biology)

Recent studies in excitatory amino acids--which are thought to mediate a large part of the excitatory synaptic transmission on the brain--have helped unravel the mechanisms of neural plasticity. An emerging general message is that perhaps similar signals are involved in brain development, sprouting, and synapse formation and learning in adults, and that these signals may also play an important role in degenerative disorders. These proceedings present an introduction to EAA mechanisms and cover EAA and long term potentiation, developmental plasticity in vivo and in vitro, reactive plasticity and anoxia. Front Matter....Pages i-x Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Glutamate Receptors in Cultures of Mouse Hippocampus Studied with Fast Applications of Agonists, Modulators and Drugs....Pages 3-11 Measuring and Controlling the Extracellular Glycine Concentration at the NMDA Receptor Level....Pages 13-16 The Glycine Coagonist Site of the NMDA Receptor....Pages 17-26 The PCP Site of the NMDA Receptor Complex....Pages 27-34 Antagonists of NMDA-Activated Current in Cortical Neurons: Competition with Glycine and Blockade of Open Channels....Pages 35-43 Front Matter....Pages 47-47 Experiments with Kainate and Quisqualate Agonists and Antagonists in Relation to the Sub-Classification of ‘Non-NMDA’ Receptors....Pages 49-55 Homocysteic Acid as Transmitter Candidate in the Mammalian Brain and Excitatory Amino Acids in Epilepsy....Pages 57-63 Specific Quisqualate Receptor Ligand Blocks Both Kainate and Quisqualate Responses....Pages 65-71 Molecular Characterization, Ultrastructural Localization and Gene Cloning of the Chick Cerebellar Kainate Receptor....Pages 73-77 Intracellular Messengers Associated with Excitatory Amino Acid (EAA) Receptors....Pages 79-91 The Glycine Site on the NMDA Receptor: Pharmacology and Involvement in NMDA Receptor-Mediated Neurodegeneration....Pages 93-100 Evidence for Glutamate Receptor Subtypes from in Vivo Electrophysiology: Studies with HA-966, Quinoxalinediones and Philanthotoxin....Pages 101-108 Characterization of Membranal and Purified NMDA Receptors....Pages 109-114 Front Matter....Pages 115-115 Mechanisms Underlying Excitatory Amino Acid-Evoked Calcium Entry in Cultured Neurons from the Embryonic Rat Spinal Cord....Pages 117-124 Topographical Heterogeneity of Glutamate Agonist-Induced Calcium Increase in Hippocampus....Pages 125-133 Protection by Natural and Semisynthetic Gangliosides from Ca 2+ -Dependent Neurotoxicity Caused by Excitatory Amino Acid (EAA) Neurotransmitters....Pages 135-144 Front Matter....Pages 145-145 Periodic Inward Currents Triggered by NMDA in Immature CA3 Hippocampal Neurones....Pages 147-150 GABA Mediated Synaptic Events in Neonatal Rat CA3 Pyramidal Neurons in Vitro : Modulation by NMDA and Non-NMDA Receptors....Pages 151-159 Neural Networks and Synaptic Transmission in Immature Hippocampus....Pages 161-171 A Role of NMDA Receptors and Ca 2+ Influx in Synaptic Plasticity in the Developing Visual Cortex....Pages 173-180 Front Matter....Pages 145-145 Spontaneous and Evoked NMDA-Receptor Mediated Potentials in the Entorhinal Cortex of the Neonate Rat in Vitro ....Pages 181-186 Learning by Seeing: N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptors and Recognition Memory....Pages 187-196 The Role of the NMDA Receptor in the Development of the Frog Visual System....Pages 197-203 Front Matter....Pages 209-209 Excitatory Amino Acids, Growth Factors, and Calcium: A Teeter-Totter Model for Neural Plasticity and Degeneration....Pages 211-220 Trophic Effects of Excitatory Amino Acids in the Developing Nervous System....Pages 221-228 Mechanisms of Excitatory Amino Acid-Induced Stimulation of GABAergic Synaptic Activity in Cultures from the Rat Superior Colliculus....Pages 229-238 The Role of Taurine and Glutamate during Early Postnatal Cerebellar Development of Normal and Weaver Mutant Mice....Pages 239-244 Regulation of Neurite Outgrowth from Cerebellar Granule Cells in Culture: NMDA Receptors and Protein Kinase C....Pages 245-253 Regulation of GABA A Currents by Excitatory Amino Acids....Pages 255-263 Front Matter....Pages 267-267 Long-Term Potentiation in the Dentate Gyrus in Vivo is Associated with a Sustained Increase in Extracellular Glutamate....Pages 269-278 Long Term Potentiation is not Associated with a Sustained Enhanced Release of Glutamate in the Rat Hippocampus in Vivo and in Vitro ....Pages 279-289 Postsynaptic Mechanisms Involved in Long-Term Potentiation....Pages 291-299 Identifying and Localizing Protein Kinases Necessary for LTP....Pages 301-305 Delayed Onset of Potentiation in Neocortical EPSPs during Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) — A Postsynaptic Mechanism or Heterogeneous Synaptic Inputs ?....Pages 307-312 Local Circuit Connections Mediated by NMDA and Non-NMDA Receptors in Slices of Neocortex....Pages 313-321 Modulation of the Responsiveness of Cerebellar Purkinje Cells to Excitatory Amino Acids....Pages 323-329 Front Matter....Pages 331-331 The Role of Ependymin in Neuronal Plasticity and LTP....Pages 333-345 The Role of Protein Kinase C Substrate B-50 (GAP-43) in Neurotransmitter Release and Long-Term Potentiation....Pages 347-358 Different Mechanisms and Multiple Stages of LTP....Pages 359-368 Extracellular Proteases and S100 Protein in Long-Term Potentiation in the Dentate Gyrus of the Anaesthetized Rat....Pages 369-375 Front Matter....Pages 331-331 Modulation of the Induction of Long-Term Potentiation in the Hippocampus....Pages 377-386 Roles of Metabotropic and Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors in the Long-Term Potentiation of Hippocampal Mossy Fiber Synapses....Pages 387-394 Effects of a Neurotrophic Factor (FGF) on Development, Regeneration and Synaptic Plasticity of Central Neurons....Pages 395-399 Trans-Synaptophobia....Pages 401-403 Front Matter....Pages 405-405 Kindling, Prenatal Exposure to Ethanol and Postnatal Development Selectively Alter Reponses of Hippocampal Pyramidal Cells to NMDA....Pages 407-417 Sprouting of Mossy Fibers in the Hippocampus of Epileptic Human and Rat....Pages 419-424 Molecular Markers of Reactive Plasticity....Pages 425-432 Transplantation of Developing Hippocampal Neurons to Ischemic and Excitotoxic Lesions of the Adult Rat Hippocampus....Pages 433-443 Changes in Synaptic Transmission in the Kindled Hippocampus....Pages 445-450 NMDA Receptor Plasticity in the Kindling Model....Pages 451-459 NMDA-Receptors are Involved in Synaptic Plasticity Following Partial Denervation of CA1 Hippocampal Cells....Pages 461-469 Front Matter....Pages 473-473 Anoxia and NMDA Receptors....Pages 475-479 Modulation of ATP Sensitive K+ Channels: A Novel Strategy to Reduce the Deleterious Effects of Anoxia....Pages 481-489 Effects of Transient Forebrain Ischemia in Area CA1 of the Gerbil Hippocampus: An in Vitro Study....Pages 491-500 Acute Brain Injury, NMDA Receptors, and Hydrogen Ions: Observations in Cortical Cell Cultures....Pages 501-504 Mechanisms of Excitatory Amino Acid Neurotoxicity in Rat Brain Slices....Pages 505-518 Back Matter....Pages 523-530 Adult and immature nervous system are capable of considerable "plasticity" and unravelling the underlying mechanisms is one of the principal and most fascinating goals of Neurobiology. A major contribution to our understanding of neural plasticity has come from recent studies in excitato ry amino acids - which are thought to mediate a large part of the excitatory synaptic transmission on the brain. Important steps in this explosive field are: 1) the synthesis of relatively specific antagonists of the N-methyl-D aspartate (NMDA) and non-NMDA receptors subtypes, 2) the characterization of the unique features of the NMDA receptor channel complex notably its voltage dependent Mg++ blockade, its permeability to calcium and its allosteric modulation by glycine, 3) the demonstration that by virtue of their Ca++ permeability NMDA receptors are involved in many -but not all -synapses in the initiation but not the maintennce of long term potentiation (L TP) an experimented model of learning and memory processes. More recent studies also indicate tha excitatory amino acids also play an important role in developmental plasticity in vivo; in cell cultures low levels of excitatory amino acids have trophic roles and can inhibit or promote neurite growth. Excitatory amino acids also play an important role also in other forms of neural plasticity such as the use dependent permanent changes in neural circuit produced by brief seizures (epileptogenesis) as well as the reactive sprouting and neosynapse formation which take place in epilepsy models and after deafferentiation or lesions