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The Journal of Neuroscience, August 15, 1998, 18(16):6558-6567

NMDA EPSCs at Glutamatergic Synapses in the Spinal Cord Dorsal Horn of the Postnatal Rat

Rita Bardoni¹, Pier Cosimo Magherini¹, and Amy B. MacDermott²

¹ Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Modena, 41100 Modena, Italy, and ² Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics and the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032

In rat dorsal horn, little is known about the properties of synaptic NMDA receptors during the first two postnatal weeks, a period of intense synaptogenesis. Using transverse spinal cord slices from postnatal day 0-15 rats, we show that 20% of glutamatergic synapses tested at low-stimulation intensity in spinal cord laminae I and II were mediated exclusively by NMDA receptors. Essentially all of the remaining glutamatergic EPSCs studied were attributable to the activation of both NMDA and AMPA receptors. Synaptic NMDA receptors at pure and mixed synapses showed similar sensitivity to membrane potential, independent of age, indicating similar Mg²⁺ sensitivity. Kinetic properties of NMDA EPSCs from pure and mixed synapses were measured at +50 mV. The 10-90% rise times of the pure NMDA EPSCs were slower (16 vs 10 msec), and the decay  values were faster (1, 24 vs 42 msec; 2, 267 vs 357 msec) than NMDA EPSCs at mixed synapses. Our results indicate that NMDA receptors are expressed at glutamatergic synapses at a high frequency, either alone or together with AMPA receptors, consistent with the prominent role of NMDA receptors in central sensitization ().

Key words: NMDA receptor; spinal cord; dorsal horn; development; synaptic transmission; pure NMDA synapse

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Copyright © 1998 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/98/18166558-10$05.00/0

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