Maturational changes in retinal excitatory amino acid receptors

The appearance, kinetics and pharmacological properties of receptors for n-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA), kainate (KA), L-glutamate (Glu) and L-aspartate (Asp) was investigated using 3H-ligand binding during the development of chick embryo retina. Receptors for AMPA are maximally concentrated at embryonic day 7 (ED 7) and decline 50% in subsequent days; L-Glu receptors are low until ED 11, and the same is true for Asp and NMDA receptors which increase at ED 14 and 18 respectively. All receptors studied underwent an increase in pharmacological specificity, whereas only AMPA-receptors showed an important change in affinity during ontogeny. Results demonstrate that receptors for excitatory amino acids in the retina suffer maturational changes and suggest that while NMDA and aspartate could interact with the same receptor, AMPA and glutamate seem to bind to different sites.