The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Feb 16;107(7):3175-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0914706107. Epub 2010 Jan 26.
D-aspartic acid is abundant in the developing brain. We have identified and cloned mammalian aspartate racemase (DR), which converts L-aspartate to D-aspartate and colocalizes with D-aspartate in the brain and neuroendocrine tissues. Depletion of DR by retrovirus-mediated expression of short-hairpin RNA in newborn neurons of the adult hippocampus elicits profound defects in the dendritic development and survival of newborn neurons and survival. Because D-aspartate is a potential endogenous ligand for NMDA receptors, the loss of which elicits a phenotype resembling DR depletion, D-aspartate may function as a modulator of adult neurogenesis.
D-天冬氨酸在发育中的大脑中含量丰富。我们已经鉴定并克隆了哺乳动物天冬氨酸消旋酶（DR），它将 L-天冬氨酸转化为 D-天冬氨酸，并与大脑和神经内分泌组织中的 D-天冬氨酸共定位。在成年海马体新生神经元中通过逆转录病毒介导的短发夹 RNA 表达来耗尽 DR，会导致新生神经元的树突发育和存活出现严重缺陷。因为 D-天冬氨酸是 NMDA 受体的潜在内源性配体，其缺失会引起类似于 DR 耗尽的表型，所以 D-天冬氨酸可能作为成年神经发生的调节剂。
