Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kessels HW
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3593880 | biostudies-other | 2013 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Kessels Helmut W HW Nabavi Sadegh S Malinow Roberto R
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20130219 10
The mechanisms by which β-amyloid (Aβ), a peptide fragment believed to contribute to Alzheimer's disease, leads to synaptic deficits are not known. Here we find that elevated oligomeric Aβ requires ion flux-independent function of NMDA receptors (NMDARs) to produce synaptic depression. Aβ activates this metabotropic NMDAR function on GluN2B-containing NMDARs but not on those containing GluN2A. Furthermore, oligomeric Aβ leads to a selective loss of synaptic GluN2B responses, effecting a switch i ...[more]