N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit changes after traumatic injury to the developing brain

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of disability in the pediatric population and can result in abnormal development. Experimental studies conducted in animals have revealed impaired plasticity following developmental TBI, even in the absence of significant anatomical damage. The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is clearly involved in both normal development and in the pathophysiology of TBI. Following lateral fluid percussion injury in postnatal day (PND) 19 rats, we tested the hypothesis that TBI sustained at an early age would result in impaired NMDAR expression. Using immunoblotting and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), protein and RNA levels of NMDAR subunits were measured in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus on post-injury days (PID) 1, 2, 4, and 7 (though the PID7 analysis was only for protein) and compared with age-matched shams. Significant effects of hemisphere (analysis of variance [ANOVA], p<0.01), and interactions between hemisphere and injury (ANOVA, p<0.05) and hemisphere and PID (ANOVA, p<0.05) were found for synaptic protein levels of the NR2A subunit in hippocampus. Specifically, within the ipsilateral hippocampus, NR2A was reduced by 9.9%, 47.9%, 40.8%, and 6.3% on PID1, PID2, PID4, and PID7, respectively. Within the cortex, there was a significant effect of injury (ANOVA, p<0.05) without any hemispheric differences. These bilateral cortical reductions measured 30.5%, 3.2%, 5.7%, and 13.4% at the same timepoints after injury. Injury had no significant main effect on NR1 or NR2B protein levels. RT-PCR analysis showed no significant changes in NR1, NR2A, or NR2B gene expression; however, as a positive control, hsp70 was induced more than twofold in ipsilateral cortex and hippocampus on PID1. It is known that NR2A expression levels increase during normal development, and in response to environmental stimuli. Our data suggest that injury-induced reduction in the expression of NR2A is one likely mechanism for the impaired experience-dependent neuroplasticity seen following traumatic injury to the immature brain.