Andrew Huberman· PhD
the nmda receptor as I mentioned earlier is a receptor on the surface of neurons and it binds glutamate which is a molecule that we all make in our brain and it activates other neurons it's what's called an excitatory neurotransmitter now there are lots of different receptors for glutamate and those receptors are binding glutamate all the time however in order to activate the nmda receptor there has to be a lot of glutamate present and it has to happen over very brief period of time so the nmda receptor is an and gate in the sense that glutamate has to be present and to bind it and it has to get a lot of electrical activity a lot of input in order for that to happen