Modulation of Synaptic Transmission by Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors and Endocannabinoid Signaling

Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are distributed throughout the central nervous system and play important roles in the modulation of synaptic transmission. The mGluRs regulate long-term potentiation (LTP)/long-term depression (LTD) and learning and memory in hippocampus. This group of glutamate receptors are also reported to exert anticonvulsive and neuroprotective efficacy, especially group I mGluRs. Kindling induced by repeated application of the convulsant pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) is a validated model of epilepsy and epilepsy-related neuromorphological, neurophysiological and behavioural alterations. In this thesis, the role of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in PTZ induced seizures, kindling, kindling-related learning deficits and LTP were examined.