August 16, 2022. A research group led by Dr. Wei Lu from Fudan University and Southeast University collaborated with a group led by Tifei Yuan, a Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute Investigator, professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and doctoral supervisor at Shanghai Mental Health Center, to publish a paper in Cell Reports titled Trafficking of NMDA receptors is essential for hippocampal synaptic plasticity and memory consolidation which analyzed the function of postsynaptic NMDA receptor (NMDAR) membrane trafficking.
NMDA receptor (NMDAR) plays a vital role in brain development and normal physiological functions. Surface trafficking of NMDAR contributes to the modulation of synaptic functions and information processing. However, it remains unclear whether NMDAR trafficking is independent of long-term potentiation (LTP) and whether it regulates behavior.
Based on the important correlation between synaptic plasticity and learning memory, the groups observed the potential role of NMDAR membrane trafficking in memory. They found that inhibiting the NMDAR membrane trafficking substantially influenced the consolidation of contextual fear conditioning. The findings suggest that NMDAR is necessary for synaptic plasticity and memory consolidation.