Résumé
ASSOCIATIVE stimulation of
N
-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and quisqualate ionotropic receptors (Q
j
) induces long-term potentiation at particular glutamatergic synapses
1–7
. Release of arachidonic acid as a result of stimulation of NMDA receptors
8
has been proposed to play a part in the establishment of long-term potentiation
9–11
. But long-term plasticity events at some other glutamatergic synapses do not involve activation of NMDA receptors
11–15
. Here we report that in mature striatal neurons in primary cultures, quisqualate can release arachidonic acid by associatively activating both quisqualate metabotropic receptors coupled to phospholipase C (Q
p
) (refs 16–20) and Q
i
receptors
21
. Independent activation of these two receptor types with specific agonists did not stimulate arachidonic acid release. These results support a role for the associative activation of Q
p
and Q
f
receptors in synaptic plasticity events
12–14
, including long-term potentiation at par-ticular synapses
11,15
.