Regulation of ionotropic receptors by protein phosphorylation

The regulation of synaptic signal transduction is of central importance to our understanding of normal and abnormal nervous system function. One mechanism by which signal transduction can be affected is the modification of cellular sensitivity by alterations of transmembrane receptor properties. For G-protein coupled receptors, protein phosphorylation is intimately involved in many stages of receptor regulation. This appears to be true for ionotropic receptors as well. Evidence of a role for protein kinase and protein phosphatase activity in the multi-staged ionotropic receptor regulation cascade is presented and a comparison to G-protein coupled receptor regulation is considered.