Abstract
Glutamate-gated ion channels participate in excitatory synaptic transmission in the nervous system as well as nonsynaptic communication between cells. The glutamate-gated ion channel family includes 18 gene products that form tetrameric transmembrane protein complexes. Glutamate-gated receptors are composed of multiple semiautonomous domains that share structural features with periplasmic amino acid-binding proteins and potassium channels. Each glutamate receptor contains both ligand recognition sites and an ion-permeable channel that spans the membrane. Specific components of the protein complex couple the conformational changes that result from agonist binding into opening of the permeation pore.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Comprehensive Biophysics |
| Publisher | Elsevier Inc. |
| Pages | 4-30 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| Volume | 6 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780080957180 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2012 |
Funding
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Grants NS065371 (SFT), NS036654 (SFT), NS068464 (SFT), and MH066892 (LPW)), the Villum Kann Rasmussen Foundation (KBH), and the Lundbeck Foundation (KBH). The authors declare no competing interests.
| Funder number |
|---|
| NS036654, NS065371, NS068464, MH066892 |
Keywords
- AMPA
- Excitatory neurotransmitter
- Glutamate
- Ionotropic glutamate receptor
- Kainate
- Ligand-gated ion channel
- NMDA
- Synaptic plasticity
- Synaptic transmission