NMDA RECEPTOR REDOX SITES - ARE THEY TARGETS FOR SELECTIVE NEURONAL PROTECTION

NMDA receptors play a central role in neuronal plasticity and in sever al pathological situations. Transient activation of this receptor trig gers long-term potentiation, whereas sustained activation leads to cel l death. Evidence for control of this activity by a redox site in cell cultures, brain tissues and in recombinant NMDA receptors are discuss ed by Henri Gozlan and Yehezkel Ben-Ari. The characteristics of this m odulation and the consequences of redox state modifications on NMDA-me diated events are examined in vitro under physiological and pathologic al conditions. Since metabolic disorders enhance NMDA receptor functio n, the redox site could constitute a new target for selectively preven ting in vivo the deleterious consequences of overactivation without bl ocking neuronal plasticity mediated by NMDA receptors.