NAAG Increases Synaptic Transmission at the Crayfish Neuromuscular Junction

Abstract

We examined the effects of NAAG and LY341495 on metabatropic glutamate group II receptors (mGluR Group II) at crayfish neuromuscular junctions. We added exogenous NAAG and LY341495 saline solutions to crayfish neuromuscular junctions and recording excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSP) through paired pulse stimulation. Our results showed that NAAG increases synaptic plasticity and LY341495 has no effect on crayfish neuromuscular junctions under baseline conditions, meaning either mGluR Group II are not present in crayfish or they are not activated under baseline conditions (i.e. low frequency stimulation).