206 Arachidonic acid facilitates non-NMDA receptor-mediated hippocampal neutransmission by activation of CaMKII

Abstract

The pharmacology of the metabotropic glutamate receptor (mG1uR)-mediated potentiation of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-evoked depolarisations in the CAI region of rat hippocampal slices was investigated using an extracellular grease-gap method. The group I and II mG1uR agonist (1S,3R)-1-aminocyclopentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid ((1S,3R)-ACPD; 1OμM) potentiated responses to NMDA (15–25 μM), giving a dose ratio of 0.84 ± 0.02. The mGluR group I specific agonist (RS3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) (3–10μM) also induced a dose-dependent and reversible enhancement of responses to NMDA (dose ratio for 10 μM DHPG was 0.77 ± 0.02). In contrast, the group II selective agonist (2S,1′R,2′R,3′R)-2-(2′,3′-dicarboxycyclopropyl)glycine (DCG-IV; 0.5-1 μM) and the group III specific agonist (S)-2-amino-4-phosphonobutanoate (L-AP4; 50 μM) caused little or no potentiation of responses to NMDA. The potentiation induced by 3–5,μM DHPG was reversibly antagonised by the group I and II antagonist (+)-α-methyl-4-carboxyphenylglycine ((+)-MCPG; 1 mM). The present findings demonstrate that activation of group I mGluRs enhance NMDA responses in the hippocampas.