How can I keep HEK cells alive while expressing NMDA receptors?
Try perhaps lowering the level of expression of your construct. HEK cells are notorious for expressing large quantities of your transfected insert. Do you have it under a CMV promoter? Try a milder one, such as an ubiquitin promoter or similar or, even better, a doxycyclin-inducible system (e.g., clontech's tet off) so you can manage the expression levels through the dox concentration/time of induction.