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Updated: Oct 14, 2025
Fast Micro-iontophoresis of Glutamate and GABA: A Useful Tool to Investigate Synaptic Integration
Published on: July 31, 2013
Structure, Function, and Pharmacology of Glutamate Receptor Ion Channels
Kasper B Hansen1, Lonnie P Wollmuth1, Derek Bowie1
1Center for Structural and Functional Neuroscience, Center for Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT (K.B.H.); Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Center for Nervous System Disorders, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY (L.P.W.); Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada (D.B.); WM Keck Structural Biology Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY (H.F.); MindImmune Therapeutics, Inc., The George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI (F.S.M.); Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY (A.I.S.); Department of Pharmacology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL (G.T.S.); Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA and Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (S.A.S.); Neurobiology Division, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom (I.H.G.); Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, School of Medicine, Nashville, TN (T.N.); Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (C.J.M.), and Synaptic Physiology Section, NINDS Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (J.S.D.); Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX (V.J.); Department of Pharmacology, Department of Anaesthesia, Healthy Longevity Translational Research Program, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore (C.-M.L.); Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO (M.L.D.); and Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA (C.R.C., R.E.P., H.Y., S.F.T.).
Abstract:
Many physiologic effects of l-glutamate, the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system, are mediated via signaling by ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs). These ligand-gated ion channels are critical to brain function and are centrally implicated in numerous psychiatric and neurologic disorders. There are different classes of iGluRs with a variety of receptor subtypes in each class that play distinct roles in neuronal functions. The diversity in iGluR subtypes, with their unique functional properties and physiologic roles, has motivated a large number of studies. Our understanding of receptor subtypes has advanced considerably since the first iGluR subunit gene was cloned in 1989, and the research focus has expanded to encompass facets of biology that have been recently discovered and to exploit experimental paradigms made possible by technological advances. Here, we review insights from more than 3 decades of iGluR studies with an emphasis on the progress that has occurred in the past decade. We cover structure, function, pharmacology, roles in neurophysiology, and therapeutic implications for all classes of receptors assembled from the subunits encoded by the 18 ionotropic glutamate receptor genes. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Glutamate receptors play important roles in virtually all aspects of brain function and are either involved in mediating some clinical features of neurological disease or represent a therapeutic target for treatment. Therefore, understanding the structure, function, and pharmacology of this class of receptors will advance our understanding of many aspects of brain function at molecular, cellular, and system levels and provide new opportunities to treat patients.
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