Alteration in NMDA receptor subunit mRNA expression in vulnerable and resistant regions of in vitro ischemic rat hippocampal slices.

Brain insults, including cerebral ischemia, can alter glutamate receptor subunit expression in vulnerable neurons. Understanding these post-ischemic changes in glutamate receptors could enhance our ability to identify specific, novel neuroprotective compounds. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification was used to quantify the altered expression of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) NR2A, NR2B and NR2C subunits relative to one another in rat hippocampal slices in resistant and vulnerable regions following in vitro oxygen-glucose deprivation. Ninety minutes after re-oxygenation and return to 10 mM glucose, there was a significant increase in the expression of NR2C relative to NR2B and NR2A in the slice as a whole, as well as in the selectively vulnerable CA1 region and the resistant CA3 and dentate gyrus regions.