| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
NAKAYAMA Takashi Okazaki National Research Institutes, Natl. Inst. Physiol. Sci., Research Associ, 生理学研究所, 助手 (90150060)
FURUYA Kishio Okazaki National Research Institutes, Natl. Inst. Physiol. Sci., Research Associ, 生理学研究所, 助手 (40132740)
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| Research Abstract |
In this project, we tried to analyze the properties and physiological roles in brain functions of the metabotropic glutanate receptors which we recently discovered (Nature 325, 531-533, 1987). We have obtained the following results:
1. This receptor was first identified in Xenopus oocytes, but in this project we showed that it is present in rat hippocampal neurons and that it activates G proteins (J.Physiol.,(Lond.) 414, 539-548, 1989).
2. The receptor has very different pharmacological properties from those of previously known glutanate receptor subtypes (Neuron 3, 129-132, 1989).
3. Certain types of neurotransmitter receptors that are coupled to pertussis toxin-sensitive G proteins are involved in the molecular mechanisms of long-term potentiation (LTP) in hippocampal mossy fiber synapses (Neurosci.Lett.90, 181-185, 1988).
4. Properties of LTP's observed in hippocampal CAI and CA3 regions were compared, and we found that phospholipase A2 reactions may be involved in the former LTP, whereas the latter LTP may more likely be related with phospholipase C (Neurosci.Lett. 100, 141-146, 1989).
5. Mossy fiber LTP may be mediated by certain transmitter receptors that are insensitive to any antagonists against previously known ionotropic glutamate receptors (manuscript in preparation).
These results suggest the possibility that the metabotropic glutamate receptors may meiate hippocampal mossy fiber LTP.
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