Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Imaging pHluorin-tagged Receptor Insertion to the Plasma Membrane in Primary Cultured Mouse Neurons
Published on: November 20, 2012
Driving AMPA receptors into synapses by LTP and CaMKII: requirement for GluR1 and PDZ domain interaction
Y Hayashi1, S H Shi, J A Esteban
1Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA.
Abstract:
To elucidate mechanisms that control and execute activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate receptors (AMPA-Rs) with an electrophysiological tag were expressed in rat hippocampal neurons. Long-term potentiation (LTP) or increased activity of the calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) induced delivery of tagged AMPA-Rs into synapses. This effect was not diminished by mutating the CaMKII phosphorylation site on the GluR1 AMPA-R subunit, but was blocked by mutating a predicted PDZ domain interaction site. These results show that LTP and CaMKII activity drive AMPA-Rs to synapses by a mechanism that requires the association between GluR1 and a PDZ domain protein.
Related Concept Videos
Long-term Potentiation
Long-term Potentiation
Hebbian LTP
LTP can occur when presynaptic neurons...
Mechanism of Lamellipodia Formation
cAMP-dependent Protein Kinase Pathways
IP3/DAG Signaling Pathway
Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Receptor: Gating Mechanism

