NMDA-evoked calcium transients and currents in the suprachiasmatic nucleus: gating by the circadian system

• Published in: The European journal of neuroscience Vol. 13; no. 7; pp. 1420 - 1428
• Main Author: Colwell, Christopher S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.04.2001
• Subjects: 2-Amino-5-phosphonovalerate - pharmacology; Animals; Bicuculline - pharmacology; calcium; Calcium - metabolism; Circadian Rhythm - physiology; circadian rhythms; Darkness; Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists - pharmacology; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists - pharmacology; Fluorescent Dyes; Fura-2; fura2; GABA Antagonists - pharmacology; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - pharmacology; Lighting; Membrane Potentials - drug effects; Membrane Potentials - physiology; N-Methylaspartate - pharmacology; NMDA; Organ Culture Techniques; Patch-Clamp Techniques; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rattus rattus; SCN; suprachiasmatic nucleus; Suprachiasmatic Nucleus - drug effects; Suprachiasmatic Nucleus - physiology; Tetrodotoxin - pharmacology

A variety of evidence suggests that the effects of light on the mammalian circadian system are mediated by glutamatergic mechanisms and that the N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor plays an important role in this regulation. One of the fundamental features of circadian oscillators is that their res...