Cell type-specific pharmacology of NMDA receptors using masked MK801

  1. Yunlei Yang
  2. Peter Lee
  3. Scott M Sternson  Is a corresponding author
  1. State University of New York Upstate Medical University, United States
  2. Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, United States

Abstract

N-Methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDA-Rs) are ion channels that are important for synaptic plasticity, which is involved in learning and drug addiction. We show enzymatic targeting of an NMDA-R antagonist, MK801, to a molecularly defined neuronal population with the cell-type-selectivity of genetic methods and the temporal control of pharmacology. We find that NMDA-Rs on dopamine neurons are necessary for cocaine-induced synaptic potentiation, demonstrating that cell type-specific pharmacology can be used to dissect signaling pathways within complex brain circuits.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Yunlei Yang

    Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Peter Lee

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Scott M Sternson

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    For correspondence
    sternsons@janelia.hhmi.org
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Richard D Palmiter, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, United States

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All experimental protocols were conducted according to United States National Institutes of Health guidelines for animal research and were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Janelia Research Campus (protocol 13-92).

Version history

  1. Received: July 30, 2015
  2. Accepted: September 10, 2015
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: September 11, 2015 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: October 6, 2015 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2015, Yang et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Yunlei Yang
  2. Peter Lee
  3. Scott M Sternson
(2015)
Cell type-specific pharmacology of NMDA receptors using masked MK801
eLife 4:e10206.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10206

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10206

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