(nmda receptor) Abbreviation for the N-methyl-D-aspartame receptor, a molecule on the surface of a brain cell that admits calcium when activated by the chemical messenger glutamate.

(nmda receptor) Subtype of glutamate receptor to which the synthetic aminoacid NMDA is an agonist; effectors are ligand- and voltage-gated calcium channel domains or subunits; important in excitotoxicity and neural plasticity.

A protein complex that plays a role in both NMDA binding and ion transport. It is a heterotetramer consisting of 2 glutamate [NMDA] receptor subunit zeta-1 proteins and 2 epsilon subunits (glutamate [NMDA] receptor subunit epsilon-1, -2, -3 or -4).

(receptors, n-methyl-d-aspartate) A class of ionotropic glutamate receptors characterized by affinity for N-methyl-D-aspartate. NMDA receptors have an allosteric binding site for glycine which must be occupied for the channel to open efficiently and a site within the channel itself to which magnesium ions bind in a voltage-dependent manner. The positive voltage dependence of channel conductance and the high permeability of the conducting channel to calcium ions (as well as to monovalent cations) are important in excitotoxicity and neuronal plasticity.