Positive feedback of glutamate exocytosis by metabotropic presynaptic receptor stimulation

GLUTAMATE is important in several forms of synaptic plasticity such as long-term potentiation, and in neuronal cell degeneration 1,2 . Glutamate activates several types of receptors, including a metabotropic receptor that is sensitive to trans -1-amino-cyclopenthyl-l,3-dicarboxylate, coupled to G protein(s) and linked to inositol phospholipid metabolism 3–6 . The activation of the metabotropic receptor in neurons generates inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, which causes the release of Ca 2+ from intracellular stores and diacylglycerol, which activates protein kinase C 7–9 . In nerve terminals, the activation of presynaptic protein kinase C with phorbol esters enhances glutamate release 10 . But the presynaptic receptor involved in this protein kinase C-mediated increase in the release of glutamate has not yet been identified. Here we demonstrate the presence of a presynaptic glutamate receptor of the metabotropic type that mediates an enhancement of glutamate exocytosis in cerebrocortical nerve terminals. Interestingly, this potentiation of glutamate release is observed only in the presence of arachidonic acid, which may reflect that this positive feedback control of glutamate exocytosis operates in concert with other pre- or post-synaptic events of the glutamatergic neurotransmission that generate arachidonic acid. This presynaptic glutamate receptor may have a physiological role in the maintenance of long-term potentiation where there is an increase in glutamate release mediated by postsynaptically generated arachidonic acid 11 .