Le. Moore et al., LOCALIZATION AND INTERACTION OF N-METHYL-D-ASPARTATE AND NON-N-METHYL-D-ASPARTATE RECEPTORS OF LAMPREY SPINAL NEURONS, Biophysical journal, 68(1), 1995, pp. 96-103
Small volumes of N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) and non-NMDA excitatory a
mino acid receptor agonists were applied to localized regions of the d
endritic trees of lamprey spinal neurons along their medial-lateral ax
is to obtain a spatial map of glutamate receptor distribution. Voltage
clamp and frequency domain methods were used to obtain quantitative k
inetic data of the voltage dependent ionic channels located both on th
e soma and on highly branched dendritic membranes. Pressure pulses of
NMDA applied to the most peripheral regions of the dendritic tree elic
ited large somatic impedance increases, indicating that the most perip
heral dendrites are well supplied with NMDA receptors, Experiments don
e with kainate did not elicit somatic responses to agonist application
s on peripheral dendrites. The data obtained are consistent with the h
ypothesis that the activation of NMDA receptors by exogenous glutamate
is significantly modified by the simultaneous activation of non-NMDA
receptors, which shunts the NMDA response. The non-NMDA shunting hypot
hesis was tested by a combined application of kainate and NMDA to mimi
c the action of glutamate showing that the shunting effect of non-NMDA
receptor activation virtually abolished the marked voltage dependency
typical of NMDA receptor activation. These data were interpreted with
a compartmental neuronal model having both NMDA and non-NMDA receptor
s.