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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

An Enhanced Green Fluorescence Protein-based Assay for Studying Neurite Outgrowth in Primary Neurons
Published on: October 19, 2019
G-protein-coupled receptor heteromers or how neurons can display differently flavoured patterns in response to the
1Molecular Neurobiology Unit, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Departament de Bioquímica i Biología Molecular, School of Biology, University of Barcelona, Spain. rfranco@unav.es
Abstract:
It is becoming accepted that G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) arrange in the neuronal membrane into homo- and hetero-oligomers and, therefore, these complexes mediate neurotransmission. New models are then needed to understand GPCR operation and predict the consequences of GPCR homo- or hetero-oligomerization. Although there is not any unifying theory addressing how hetero-oligomerization occurs, recent models have been devised to understand the thermodynamics of binding of neurotransmitters to GPCRs and the allosteric protomer-protomer interactions involved in neurotransmitter-mediated activation of GPCRs. Although a model to predict how signalling is produced via homo- or hetero-oligomerization is lacking, functional data show that receptor oligomers exist to produce a variety of effects in neurons in response to a single neurotransmitter.
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