Excitatory actions of NMDA receptor antagonists in rat entorhinal cortex and cultured entorhinal cortical neurons.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology July 1, 1999 J Väisänen, A M Lindén, M Lakso et al.
Non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonists MK-801, PCP, and ketamine strongly and dose-dependently increase expression of the immediate early gene c-fos in neurons of layer III of the rat caudal entorhinal cortex. This induction is delayed and blocked by antipsychotic drugs. In cultured primary entorhinal neurons, high doses of MK-801 and PCP kill the cells without inducing c-fos, showing that the in vitro model does not fully replicate in vivo effects. These excitatory effects may be linked to the psychotropic side effects of these drugs and could serve as a model system for studying psychosis neurobiology.