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Neuroscience

AMPA receptors get 'pickled'

Nature volume 458, pages 585–586 (2009)Cite this article

In mediating fast synaptic communication in the brain, AMPA receptors require TARP auxiliary proteins. It seems that another distinct class of proteins also bind to AMPA receptors and regulate their function.

The regulation of AMPARs at excitatory synapses between neurons are of particular interest, because plastic changes in the localization and function of these receptors are thought to underlie certain forms of learning and memory5,6. Stargazin, the prototypical TARP, was originally identified as being essential for the surface expression of AMPARs and for targeting them to synapses in granule cells of the cerebellum. Apart from stargazin, which is also called γ-2, the TARP family is now known to include γ-3, γ-4, γ-5, γ-7 and γ-8. These transmembrane proteins are widely expressed in the central nervous system and are intimately involved with AMPARs throughout their lives — from synthesis to surface expression and synaptic targeting2,3.

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Figure 1: AMPA receptors expand their circle of friends.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alexander C. Jackson and Roger A. Nicoll are in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA. nicoll@cmp.ucsf.edu,

    Alexander C. Jackson & Roger A. Nicoll

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  1. Alexander C. Jackson
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  2. Roger A. Nicoll
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Jackson, A., Nicoll, R. AMPA receptors get 'pickled'. Nature 458, 585–586 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/458585a

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