| N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid | |
|---|---|
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| IUPAC name |
N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid
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| Other names | NMDA |
| Identifiers | |
| CAS number | 6384-92-5  |
| PubChem | 22880 |
| MeSH | NMDA |
| SMILES |
[C@@H](CC(O[H])=O)(C(O[H])=O)N([H])C([H])([H])[H]
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| InChI |
1/C5H9NO4/c1-6-3(5(9)10)2-4(7)8/h3,6H,2H2,1H3,(H,7,8)(H,9,10)/t3-/m1/s1
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| ChemSpider ID | 21436 |
| Properties | |
| Molecular formula | C5H9NO4 |
| Molar mass | 147.13 g/mol |
| Solubility in water | soluble |
| (what is this?) (verify) Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa) |
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| Infobox references | |
NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartic acid) is an amino acid derivative acting as a specific agonist at the NMDA receptor, and therefore mimics the action of the neurotransmitter glutamate on that receptor. In contrast to glutamate, NMDA binds to and regulates the NMDA receptor only, with no effect on other glutamate receptors.
NMDA is a water-soluble synthetic substance that is not normally found in biological tissue. It was first synthesized in 1960s. NMDA is an excitotoxin; this trait has applications in behavioral neuroscience research. The body of work utilizing this technique falls under the term "lesion studies." Researchers apply NMDA to specific regions of an (animal) subject's brain or spinal cord and subsequently test for the behavior of interest, such as operant behavior. If the behavior is compromised, it suggests the destroyed tissue was part of a brain region that made an important contribution to the normal expression of that behavior. However, in lower quantities NMDA is not neurotoxic. Therefore the action of glutamate specifically through NMDA receptors can be investigated by injecting small quantities of NMDA into a certain region in the brain: for example, injection of NMDA in a brainstem region induces involuntary locomotion in cats and rats.
Antagonists
Examples of antagonists of the NMDA receptor are APV, Amantadine, dextromethorphan, ketamine, phencyclidine (PCP), riluzole, memantine, and kynurenic acid, the only known endogenous antagonist. They are commonly referred to as NMDA receptor antagonists.
References
- Watkins, Jeffrey C.; Jane, David E. (2006), "The glutamate story", Br. J. Pharmacol. 147 (Suppl. 1): S100–8, doi:, PMID 16402093.
Further reading
- Blaise, Mathias-Costa; Sowdhamini, Ramanathan; Rao, Metpally Raghu Prasad; Pradhan, Nithyananda (2004), "Evolutionary trace analysis of ionotropic glutamate receptor sequences and modeling the interactions of agonists with different NMDA receptor subunits", J. Mol. Model. 10 (5-6): 305–16, doi:, PMID 15597199.
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