Cell type-specific pharmacology of NMDA receptors using masked MK801

Abstract
Article and author information
Metrics

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

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.
Peter Lee

Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
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.

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).

Copyright

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.