Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors and Expression of <i>N</i>-Methyl-<scp>d</scp>-Aspartate Receptor Subunits in Subregions of Human Hippocampus: Effects of Schizophrenia

Abstract

Because the NR1 subunit of the NMDA receptor is critical to full receptor activity, a reduction of NR1 in hippocampus in schizophrenia suggests a functional impairment in glutamatergic transmission at the NMDA receptor, resulting in reduced glutamatergic transmission within and possibly efferent from the hippocampus in schizophrenia. This defect could underlie a hypoglutamatergic state in regions of limbic cortex, consistent with published results from other lines of research in schizophrenia.