Elsevier

Neuropharmacology

Volume 34, Issue 11, November 1995, Pages 1567-1572
Neuropharmacology

General paper
Evidence against a role for metabotropic glutamate receptors in mossy fiber LTP: the use of mutant mice and pharmacological antagonists

https://doi.org/10.1016/0028-3908(95)00115-MGet rights and content

Abstract

We have used a number of approaches to address a possible role of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in mossy fiber long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus. We have used two types of mutant mice—one lacking the mGluR1 subtype of receptor and one lacking the gamma isoform of protein kinase C. In neither type of mouse did we find any alteration in the magnitude of mossy fiber LTP. We next examined whether mGluRs might modulate the magnitude and/or threshold for the induction of mossy fiber LTP. In these experiments we used tetani that were either just subthreshold or just suprathreshold for generating LTP. The mGluR antagonist (+)-α-methyl-4-carboxyphenylglycine [(+)MCPG] did not convert a subthreshold tetanus into a suprathreshold tetanus, nor did (+)MCPG have any effect on the small amount of LTP that was generated by a just suprathreshold tetanus. Based on our studies, we have been unable to identify a role for mGluRs in mossy fiber LTP.

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Present address: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812, Japan.

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