Abstract

We will test the relationship between the presence of NMDA receptors in the visual cortex and the segregation of afferents from the lateral geniculate to the cortex. We have shown that the contribution of NMDA receptors to the visual response in layers IV, V and VI of cat visual cortex drops between 3 and 6 weeks of age, slightly preceding the segregation of geniculocortical afferents. This finding, coupled with the implication of NMDA receptors in afferent segregation in the three-eyed frog (Cline et al., 1987) leads to the hypothesis that NMDA receptors may play a similar role in the visual cortex. We have devised a series of experiments to test this hypothesis, and to test the suggestion that the elimination of NMDA receptors from the postsynaptic terminal may precede the withdrawal of the afferent terminal, just as there is a loss of acetylcholine receptors from the postsynaptic site at the neuromuscular junction preceding the withdrawal of the nerve overlying the junction (Rich and Lichtman, 1989).

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Program Projects (P01)
Project #
5P01NS029343-04
Application #
3760964
Study Section
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
1994
Total Cost
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
Washington University
Department
Type
DUNS #
062761671
City
Saint Louis
State
MO
Country
United States
Zip Code
63130

  Publications

Czepita, D; Daw, N W (1996) The contribution of NMDA receptors to the visual response in animals that have been partially monocularly deprived. Brain Res 728:7-12
Reid, S N; Daw, N W; Czepita, D et al. (1996) Inhibition of nitric oxide synthase does not alter ocular dominance shifts in kitten visual cortex. J Physiol 494 ( Pt 2):511-7
Sadoulet-Puccio, H M; Khurana, T S; Cohen, J B et al. (1996) Cloning and characterization of the human homologue of a dystrophin related phosphoprotein found at the Torpedo electric organ post-synaptic membrane. Hum Mol Genet 5:489-96
Wang, X F; Daw, N W (1996) Metabotropic glutamate receptors potentiate responses to NMDA and AMPA from layer V cells in rat visual cortex. J Neurophysiol 76:808-15
Raddatz, R; Crankshaw, C L; Snider, R M et al. (1995) Similar rates of phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis following activation of wild-type and truncated rat neurokinin-1 receptors. J Neurochem 64:1183-91
Simmons, M A; Schneider, C R; Krause, J E (1994) Regulation of the responses to gonadotropin-releasing hormone, muscarine and substance P in sympathetic neurons by changes in cellular constituents and intracellular application of peptide fragments of the substance P receptor. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 271:581-9
Daw, N W (1994) Mechanisms of plasticity in the visual cortex. The Friedenwald Lecture. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 35:4168-79
Daw, N W; Stein, P S; Fox, K (1993) The role of NMDA receptors in information processing. Annu Rev Neurosci 16:207-22
Blount, P; Krause, J E (1993) Functional nonequivalence of structurally homologous domains of neurokinin-1 and neurokinin-2 type tachykinin receptors. J Biol Chem 268:16388-95
Kwatra, M M; Schwinn, D A; Schreurs, J et al. (1993) The substance P receptor, which couples to Gq/11, is a substrate of beta-adrenergic receptor kinase 1 and 2. J Biol Chem 268:9161-4

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