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An NMDA-mediated component of excitatory synaptic input to dentate granule cells in 'epileptic' human hippocampus
L Urban1, P G Aitken, A Friedman
1Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.
Brain Research
|May 7, 1990
Abstract:
Recordings were made from human hippocampal tissue surgically removed for treatment of epilepsy. In 70% of cases, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated component was present in excitatory synaptic input to gyrus dentatus. NMDA receptors are normally present, but do not participate in low-frequency synaptic transmission, in this region of the mammalian brain. These findings suggest that recruitment of normally dormant excitatory amino acid receptors may be a feature of the epileptic brain.