Overactivation, NMDARs leads to Increased, Intracellular Calcium overload

The NMDA receptor is distinct from the other glutamate receptors in two ways: first, it is both ligand-gated and voltage-dependent; second, it requires co-activation by two ligands: glutamate and either glycine or D-serine. Following membrane depolarization, the co-agonists, L-glutamate and glycine must bind to their respective sites on the receptor to open the channel. On activation, the NMDA receptor allows the influx of extracellular calcium ions into the postsynaptic neuron and neurotransmission occurs (reviewed in Higley and Sabatini, 2012). Calcium flux through NMDA receptors is also thought to be critical in synaptic plasticity, a cellular mechanism for learning and memory. Indeed, NMDA receptor–dependent synaptic potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD) are two forms of activity-dependent long-term changes in synaptic efficacy that are believed to represent cellular correlates of learning and memory processes. The best characterized form of NMDA receptor-dependent LTP and LTD occurs between CA3 and CA1 pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus (Luscher and Malenka, 2012). It is now well established that modest activation of NMDARs leads to modest increases in postsynaptic calcium, triggering LTD, whereas much stronger activation of NMDARs leading to much larger increases in postsynaptic calcium are required to trigger LTP (Luscher and Malenka, 2012). The high-frequency stimulation causes a strong temporal summation of the excitatory postsynaptic potentials, and depolarization of the postsynaptic cell is sufficient to relieve the Mg2+ block of the NMDAR and allow a large amount of calcium to enter into the post-synaptic cells.

Is it known how much change in the first event is needed to impact the second? Are there known modulators of the response-response relationships? Are there models or extrapolation approaches that help describe those relationships?

The experiments describing semi-quantitative effects for these KERs are described in the table above.

NMDARs have been shown to regulate calcium ion flow in a variety of species including zebrafish and rats (Horzmann and Freeman, 2016, el Nasr et al., 1990).