Adenosine A2A receptors and metabotropic glutamate 5 receptors are co-localized and functionally interact in the hippocampus: a possible key mechanism in the modulation of N-methyl-d-aspartate effects

Abstract

Hippocampal metabotropic glutamate 5 receptors (mGlu5Rs) regulate both physiological and pathological responses to glutamate. Because mGlu5R activation enhances NMDA-mediated effects, and given the role played by NMDA receptors in synaptic plasticity and excitotoxicity, modulating mGlu5R may influence both the physiological and the pathological effects elicited by NMDA receptor stimulation. We evaluated whether adenosine A2A receptors (A2ARs) modulated mGlu5R-dependent effects in the hippocampus, as they do in the striatum. Co-application of the A2AR agonist CGS 21680 with the mGlu5R agonist (RS)-2-chloro-s-hydroxyphenylglycine(CHPG) synergistically reduced field excitatory postsynaptic potentials in the CA1 area of rat hippocampal slices. Endogenous tone at A2ARs seemed to be required to enable mGlu5R-mediated effects, as the ability of CHPG to potentiate NMDA effects was antagonized by the selective A2AR antagonist ZM 241385 in rat hippocampal slices and cultured hippocampal neurons, and abolished in the hippocampus of A2AR knockout mice. Evidence for the interaction between A2ARs and mGlu5Rs was further strengthened by demonstrating their co-localization in hippocampal synapses. This is the first evidence showing that hippocampal A2ARs and mGlu5Rs are co-located and act synergistically, and that A2ARs play a permissive role in mGlu5R receptor-mediated potentiation of NMDA effects in the hippocampus.