Pharmacological evidence that NMDA receptors contribute to mono- and di-synaptic potentials in slices of mouse olfactory cortex.

Experiments have been carried out using slices of olfactory cortex of the mouse perfused in solution containing Mg2+ (1 mM) and in which the lateral olfactory tract was stimulated at a frequency of 1 pulse/5 sec to avoid polysynaptic activity. Application of the N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist D-(-)-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (APP, 25 microM) suppressed a low amplitude component of the potential, the latency to onset of which corresponded with that of the monosynaptically evoked N-wave in 14 of the 17 slices tested and duration of which exceeded that of the N-wave. A residual potential, recorded in slices to which the quisqualate-/kainate-selective antagonist 6,7-dinitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (DNQX) had been applied at a concentration of 10microM, was identical to the potential suppressed by APP. The residual potential in the presence of DNQX was blocked by APP, 7-chlorokynurenate (25 microM) and (+)-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cyclohepten-5,10-imine maleate (MK801, 0.125-2 microM). It was potentiated in area by exogenous D-serine (1 mM) and in slices preincubated and perfused with Mg(2+)-free solution. It is concluded that, in addition to receptors of the quisqualate/kainate categories, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors also contribute to both mono- and di-synaptic excitations in the olfactory cortex.