Research: Rethinking NMDA

10 January 2006

The neurotransmitter NMDA may have a larger role in neurodegeneration than previously suspected.

Damage to oligodendrocytes – support cells that, among other things, make the myelin sheaths insulating neurons – has been implicated in several conditions, including cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and stroke. The main culprit has been thought to be the neurotransmitter glutamate acting through AMPA receptors.

But there have been hints that activation of NMDA receptors may also be significant. Professor David Attwell and colleagues therefore re-examined NMDA responses in oligodendrocytes, finding NMDA-triggered currents in these cells in the cerebellum and corpus callosum in response to oxygen starvation.

These results suggest that NMDA neurotransmission may be important in various forms of nerve damage, and highlight oligodendrocyte NMDA receptors as a potential new therapeutic target.

External links

• Karadottir R et al. NMDA receptors are expressed in oligodendrocytes and activated in ischaemia. Nature 2005;438(7071):1162–6.