FIGURE 6.

Overexpression of GluN2A and GluN2B exaggerates NMDAR-induced cell death and CREB deactivation. A, neurons transfected with a plasmid expressing GFP, GFP-GluN2A, or GFP-GluN2B were treated with 50 μm NMDA for 30 min. Three hours later, neurons were fixed and costained with DAPI and antibody against GFP. Quantification of cell death, as revealed by condensed nuclear DAPI staining (arrowheads) in GFP-positive neurons, is shown in the bottom panel. Some of the healthy cells with diffuse nuclear staining are indicated by the arrows. B, neurons expressing GFP, GFP-GluN2A, or GFP-GluN2B were stimulated by 50 μm NMDA for 15 min and then fixed and costained for p-CREB and GFP. The optical intensity of p-CREB (as indicated by arrows for the representative cells) in neurons transfected with GFP was defined as 1. One-way ANOVA revealed a significant difference (i.e. p < 0.05) among different treatments. The post hoc SNK analysis revealed that the values associated with distinct SNK groups (a, b, and c) are significantly different: a < b < c.