NMDA receptor antagonists block the induction of long-term depression in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of the anesthetized rat

Brain Res. 1991 Jun 21;552(1):93-8. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(91)90664-h.

Abstract

The present study tested the effect of two non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonists, ketamine and phencyclidine, on the induction of long-term depression (LTD) in the dentate gyrus of urethane-anesthetized rats. Both drugs blocked the induction of LTD as well as long-term potentiation (LTP). NMDA receptor activation thus seems to be required for the induction of both LTD and LTP in the dentate gyrus. High-intensity conditioning stimulation did not overcome the phencyclidine block of LTD. Strong, but brief, postsynaptic depolarization is apparently not the only event needed to trigger LTD.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Anesthesia, General
  • Animals
  • Axons / physiology
  • Electric Stimulation / methods
  • Functional Laterality
  • Hippocampus / drug effects
  • Hippocampus / physiology*
  • Ketamine / pharmacology*
  • Male
  • Phencyclidine / pharmacology*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Inbred Strains
  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / drug effects
  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / physiology*
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate
  • Ketamine
  • Phencyclidine