Agonists selective for phosphoinositide-coupled receptors sensitize neurons to depolarization by L-2-amino-4-phosphonobutanoic acid (L-AP4).

Exposure of hippocampal and cortical slices to quisqualate induces a 30- to 100-fold decrease in the half-maximal concentration of L-2-amino-4-phosphonobutanoic acid (L-AP4) required to depolarize neurons. This sensitization persists for hours and has previously been shown to be induced only by quisqualate, via the interaction of quisqualate with a 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX)-insensitive site. Here we tested the hypothesis that quisqualate may act on phosphoinositide (PI) metabolism to enhance the response to L-AP4, and found that sensitization to L-AP4 was induced by trans-1-amino-1,3-cyclopentanedicarboxylic acid (trans-ACPD), an agonist selective for PI-coupled excitatory amino acid receptors, and by carbachol and norepinephrine, agonists at other PI-coupled receptors. However, these compounds produced only a 2- to 5-fold sensitization to L-AP4, that was of shorter duration than that induced by quisqualate. These results suggest that sensitization to L-AP4 may be induced, at least in part, via PI-coupled receptors, and that the sensitivity of neurons to an excitatory amino acid agonist may be modified by heteroreceptor activation of the PI second messenger system.