Abstract

REYES MONREAL, Marleni et al. CellCorticalDisplastic: educational simulator for the recovery from desensitization of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor. Acta univ [online]. 2025, vol.35, e4187.  Epub Aug 12, 2025. ISSN 2007-9621.  https://doi.org/10.15174/au.2025.4187.

The receptor N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) is a key component of excitatory synapses. Currently, there are no educational simulators addressing the recovery from the desensitization of the NMDA receptor. In this context, an educational simulator has been developed to facilitate the teaching of this process. To engage students, the simulator is based on electrophysiological recordings of recovery from desensitization in three types of cortical cells from a pediatric patient with cortical dysplasia: neurons located outside the dysplastic cortex (non-CD normal-appearing), neurons from the dysplastic cortex with an apparently normal morphology (CD normal-appearing), and cytomegalic neurons from the dysplastic cortex (CD cytomegalic). The simulator reproduces the recovery from desensitization for each of these cell types, validating the modeled processes. The implemented mathematical model enabled a theoretical estimation of intracellular calcium concentration based on the reported experiments. Additionally, the simulator includes a set of lessons that introduce students to the subject and allows them to perform virtual practical exercises.

Keywords : Educational simulators; NMDA receptor; recovery from desensitization; desensitization.

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