Selective increase of AMPA binding to the AMPA/quisqualate receptor in the hippocampus in response to acute stress.

The binding properties of ligands specific for two subclasses of glutamate receptors were studied by quantitative autoradiography after one hour of acute immobilization/shock stress. [3H]N-(1-(2-thienyl)cyclohexyl)-3,4-piperidine (TCP) and [3H]alpha-amino-3-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) were used to visualize the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor and the AMPA/quisqualate receptor types, respectively. While no change was observed in the binding properties of the [3H]TCP, [3H]AMPA binding was significantly increased in several areas of the hippocampus of acutely stressed rats relative to naive controls.