. Viral delivery of NR2D subunits reduces Mg 2ϩ block of NMDA receptor and restores NT-3-induced potentiation of AMPA/kainate responses in maturing rat motoneurons. J Neurophysiol 92: 2394 -2404, 2004. First published May 19, 2004 10.1152 10. /jn.00278.2004 responsiveness of motoneurons declines during the initial 2 postnatal weeks due to increasing Mg 2ϩ block of NMDA receptors. Using gene chip analyses, RT-PCR, and immunochemistry, we have shown that the NR2D subunit of the NMDA receptor (NMDAR), known to confer resistance to Mg 2ϩ block, also declines in motoneurons during this period. We injected a viral construct (HSVnr2d) into the lumbar spinal cord on postnatal day 2 in an attempt to restore NMDAR function in motoneurons during the second postnatal week. Following HSVnr2d injection, we detected elevated levels of NR2D mRNA in spinal cord samples and NR2D protein specifically in motoneurons. These molecular changes were associated with marked functional alterations whereby NMDAR-mediated responses in motoneurons associated with both dorsal root (DR) and ventrolateral funiculus (VLF) inputs returned to values observed at E18 due to decreased Mg 2ϩ blockade. Viruses carrying the ␤-galactosidase gene did not induce these effects. NT-3 is known to potentiate AMPA-kainate responses in motoneurons if the response has an NMDAR-mediated component and thus is normally ineffective during the second postnatal week. Restoration of NMDAR-mediated responsiveness in the second postnatal week was accompanied by a return of the ability of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) to potentiate the AMPA-kainate responses produced by both DR and VLF synaptic inputs. We conclude that delivery of the gene for a specific NMDA subunit can restore properties characteristic of younger animals to spinal cord motoneurons. This approach might be useful for enhancing the function of fibers surviving in the damaged spinal cord.

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Removal of Mg2+ ions from perfusion medium provoked epileptiform activity in CA1 field of surviving rat hippocampal slices manifested in generation of extra population spikes. MK-801 (100 μM), a specific non-competitive antagonist to NMDA-receptor complex, prevented this effect. NMDA (20 μM), the specific agonist to this complex, produced no significant effect on the orthodromic population spikes, but when applied at concentrations of 30 or 40 μM, it inhibited them partially (by 21-28%) or almost completely (by 98-99%), correspondingly. Thus, depending on concentration, NMDA can inhibit the synaptic transmission in Schaffer collaterals-hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons axis without triggering the epileptiform activity. D-AP5 (50 μM), a competitive antagonist to NMDA-receptor complex, completely prevented the inhibitory effect of NMDA (40 μM). While MK-801 (100 μM) almost completely prevented the inhibitory effect of NMDA, it did not eliminate it when applied after the agonist. Thus, MK-801 can prevent the inhibitory action of NMDA on synaptic transmission in Schaffer collaterals-hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons axis via blocking the channel of NMDA-receptor complex, while NMDA exerts its effect only via activation of NMDA receptors.

We compared the contribution of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) to the generation and modulation of synaptic responses elicited in intracellularly recorded L5 motoneurons from neonatal rats by segmental and descending fibers. Dorsal root (DR) stimulation at high intensity (C-fiber strength) evoked long latency (2-5-s) depolarization in addition to early monosynaptic and polysynaptic responses. Stimulation of the descending ventrolateral funiculus (VLF) failed to evoke a late response in the same motoneuron. The mGluR antagonist (ϩ)-␣-methyl-4-carboxyphenylglycine (MCPG; 0.4 mM) selectively blocked the long latency DR response. This mGluR-mediated response persisted in ␣-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)/kainate or N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists, but not both, suggesting that glutamate transmission (either AMPA/kainate or NMDA) is required for mGluR-mediated inputs from small diameter sensory afferents to affect the motoneuron. Although MCPG inhibited the long latency DR response, it induced moderate facilitation of monosynaptic DR and VLF responses. The mGluR agonist 1s3r-ACPD induced motoneuron depolarization and depressed the monosynaptic DR and VLF responses. MCPG also facilitated the neurotrophin-3 and brain-derived neurotrophic factor induced strengthening of the monosynaptic DR responses (but only before P6, since neurotrophins are ineffective later at DR synapses and never at VLF synapses after birth). Our results suggest that mGluRs are involved in synaptic pathways to motoneurons made by DR but not VLF fibers. MCPG-induced facilitation of monosynaptic AMPA/kainate DR and VLF responses suggests the possibility of tonic mGluR-mediated inhibition of DR and VLF responses. We speculate that MCPG facilitates neurotrophin-induced strengthening of monosynaptic DR responses by reducing this tonic inhibition.Lumbar motoneurons in neonatal rat spinal cord receive excitatory synaptic inputs from two major pathways: a segmental pathway that can be activated by electrical stimulation of the corresponding dorsal root (DR) and a descending pathway activated by stimulation of ventrolateral funiculus (VLF) axons (Pinco and Lev-Tov, 1994). Both these pathways elicit monosynaptic EPSPs via AMPA/kainate receptors. They also activate NMDA receptors, but this action is more complex since the properties of NMDA receptors on motoneurons change markedly during early postnatal development (Arvanian and Mendell, 2001a;Arvanian et al., 2004a) becoming more subject to Mg 2ϩ block at resting membrane potential. Of considerable interest is the fact that the NMDA receptors associated with VLF inputs mature earlier than those associated with DR inputs on the same motoneuron (Arvanian et al., 2004a).A third group of receptors activated by glutamate is the metabotropic class of glutamate receptors (for review, see Schoepp and Conn, 2002). Previous investigators have demonstrated a metabotropic component of DR-evoked responses in motoneurons (Jane et al