Pre-incubation of synaptic membranes with phosphatase inhibitors significantly reduces the extent of calpain-mediated truncation of both GluR1 and NR2 subunits of AMPA and NMDA receptors, respectively. The same treatment did not modify calpain-mediated truncation of spectrin. These results might have important implications for mechanisms of synaptic plasticity as the balance of kinase/phosphatase activity and calpain has been proposed to regulate synaptic efficacy at glutamatergic synapses.
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