Exaggerated responses to chronic nociceptive stimuli and enhancement of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor-mediated synaptic transmission in mutant mice lacking D-amino-acid oxidase
K. Wake et al., Exaggerated responses to chronic nociceptive stimuli and enhancement of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor-mediated synaptic transmission in mutant mice lacking D-amino-acid oxidase, NEUROSCI L, 297(1), 2001, pp. 25-28
Formalin-induced nociceptive behaviors and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subt
ype glutamate receptor-mediated excitatory synaptic transmission were analy
zed in mutant mice lacking D-amino-acid oxidase, which catalyzes the oxidat
ive deamination of D-amino acids. The second phase of the formalin-induced
licking response, a part of which is known to be mediated by NMDA receptors
in the spinal cord, was significantly augmented in mutant mice. NMDA recep
tor-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents recorded from spinal cord dor
sal horn neurons by tight-seal whole-cell methods were significantly potent
iated in mutant mice. The present observations provide another line of evid
ence that D-serine functions as an endogenous coagonist at the glycine site
of NMDA receptors, and raise the possibility that D-amino-acid oxidase exe
rts a neuromodulatory function by controlling the concentration of D-serine
in the central nervous system. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All
rights reserved.