NMDA receptors, mGluR5, and endocannabinoids are involved in a cascade leading to hippocampal long-term depression

Neuropsychopharmacology. 2012 Feb;37(3):609-17. doi: 10.1038/npp.2011.243. Epub 2011 Oct 12.

Abstract

In the CA1 region of the rat hippocampus, metabotropic glutamate receptor-5 (mGluR5) and cannabinoid-1 receptors (CB1Rs) are believed to participate in long-term synaptic depression (LTD). How mGluRs and CB1Rs interact to promote LTD remains uncertain. In this study, we examined LTD induced by CB1R agonists, mGluR5 agonists, and low-frequency electrical stimulation (LFS) of the Schaffer collateral pathway. Synthetic CB1R agonists induced robust LTD that was mimicked by the endocannabinoid (EC), noladin ether (NLDE), but not by anandamide. 2-Arachidonylglycerol (2AG) produced only a small degree of LTD. The selective mGluR5 agonist, namely (RS)-2-chloro-5-hydroxyphenylglycine (CHPG), also induced robust LTD, and CHPG and NLDE occluded each other's effects. Similarly, CHPG and NLDE occluded LFS-induced LTD, and LTD resulting from all three treatments was blocked by a CB1R antagonist. CHPG-LTD and NLDE-LTD were insensitive to N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) block, even though LFS-LTD requires NMDARs. LTD induced by LFS or CHPG, but not NLDE-LTD, was blocked by a selective mGluR5 antagonist. (RS)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG), a less selective group I mGluR agonist, also induced LTD, but its effects were not blocked by mGluR5 or CB1R antagonists. Furthermore, DHPG-LTD was additive with LFS-LTD and CHGP-LTD. These results suggest that NMDARs, mGluR5, and CB1Rs participate in a cascade that underlies LFS-LTD and that release of an EC and CB1R activation occur downstream of NMDARs and mGluR5. Furthermore, DHPG induces a form of LTD that differs mechanistically from LFS-induced depression.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Arachidonic Acids / pharmacology
  • Cannabinoid Receptor Modulators / metabolism*
  • Endocannabinoids*
  • Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / pharmacology
  • Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / pharmacology
  • Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / drug effects
  • Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / physiology
  • Glycerides / pharmacology
  • Glycine / analogs & derivatives
  • Glycine / pharmacology
  • Hippocampus / drug effects
  • Hippocampus / physiology*
  • Long-Term Synaptic Depression / drug effects
  • Long-Term Synaptic Depression / physiology*
  • Neurons / drug effects
  • Neurons / metabolism
  • Phenylacetates / pharmacology
  • Polyunsaturated Alkamides / pharmacology
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Receptor, Metabotropic Glutamate 5
  • Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate / metabolism*
  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / metabolism*
  • Synaptic Transmission / drug effects
  • Synaptic Transmission / physiology

Substances

  • 2-chloro-5-hydroxyphenylglycine
  • Arachidonic Acids
  • Cannabinoid Receptor Modulators
  • Endocannabinoids
  • Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists
  • Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists
  • Glycerides
  • Grm5 protein, rat
  • Phenylacetates
  • Polyunsaturated Alkamides
  • Receptor, Metabotropic Glutamate 5
  • Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate
  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate
  • noladin ether
  • Glycine
  • anandamide