IUBio

Many variants of neurotransmitter receptors?

Chcabonita chcabonita at aol.com
Sat Jan 11 01:00:14 EST 1997


Your grammar makes it difficult to determine what effects you want to see
qunitified, so I will just tell you what I do know.  It has recently been
found that the N-methyl-D-apartate receptor, which is thought to be
involved in learning and memory process, is comprised of two protein
subunits.  Of the two subunits, the secondary subunits, of which four at
least are known, seem to modulate the function of the receptor.  It
appears to regulate sensitivity to polyamines as well as the sensitivity
to depolarization. The presence of certain subunits results in a greater
or lesser likelihood of opening the attached Calcium channel (this
receptor requires both stimulation by a neurotransmitter and
depolarization of the cell for the channel to open).  Calcium controls all
kinds of functions in a neuron.  

Following are two relatively understandable articles about the different
subunits:

Monyer, H. Burnashev, N., Laurie, D.J., Sakmann, B., & Seeburg, P.H.
(1994). Developmental and regional expression in the rat brain and
functional properties of four NMDA receptors. Neuron, 12, 529-540.

Monyer, H., Sprengel, R., Schoepfer, R., Herb, A., Higuchi, M., Lomeli,
H., Burnashev, N., Sakmann, B., Seeburg, P.H. (1992). Heteromeric NMDA
receptors: Molecular and functional distinction of subtypes. Science, 256,
1217-1221.



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