Neuronal AMPA receptors autoinactivate at high concentrations of glutamate, i.e., the current declines at glutamate concentrations above 10-100 microM. The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are unclear. Stargazin-like TARPs are AMPA receptor auxiliary subunits that modulate receptor trafficking and channel properties. Here, we found that neuronal AMPA receptors and recombinant AMPA receptor...

Postsynaptic responses to presynaptic stimulation are used regularly to assess the amount of transmitter released from presynaptic release zones. At climbing fiber-to-Purkinje cell synapses, the number of vesicles released per active zone follows changes in release probability such that, normally, more than one vesicle is released per presynaptic action potential. This leads to high occupation ...

Among diverse factors regulating excitatory synaptic transmission, the abundance of postsynaptic glutamate receptors figures prominently in molecular memory and learning-related synaptic plasticity. To allow for both long-term maintenance of synaptic transmission and acute changes in synaptic strength, the relative rates of glutamate receptor insertion and removal must be tightly regulated. Int...

K+ depolarization or addition of glutamate to a synaptoneurosome preparation triggers a rapid increase in size of polyribosomal aggregates isolated by centrifugation of lysate through 1 M sucrose. The profile of response to the glutamate analogues quisqualate, ibotenate, and 1-aminocyclopentane-1,3-dicarboxylate corresponds to that of metabotropic receptors. Glutamate stimulation is mimicked by...

Glutamate receptors mediate most excitatory synaptic transmission in the brain. Additionally, they mediate many forms of synaptic plasticity such as those thought to comprise the physiological basis of learning and memory. In the developing brain, glutamate receptor activation is required for appropriate synaptogenesis and activity-driven refinement of functional synaptic networks (1,2). Thus, ...

Functional mapping of neurotransmitter receptors requires rapid and localized application of transmitter. The usefulness of caged glutamate for this purpose has been limited, because photolysis by unfocused light above and below the target cell limits depth resolution. This problem is eliminated by using a double-caged glutamate that requires absorption of two photons for conversion to active g...

Glutamate released at synapses in the CA1 region of the hippocampus escapes the synaptic cleft and activates extrasynaptic targets; it also may "spill over" into neighboring synapses and activate receptors there. Glutamate transporters in glial membranes restrict extrasynaptic diffusion, but it is unclear whether neuronal glutamate transporters also limit transmitter diffusion and receptor acti...

Glutamate receptors are not only abundant and important mediators of fast excitatory synaptic transmission in vertebrates, but they also serve a similar function in invertebrates such as Drosophila and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. In C. elegans, an animal with only 302 neurons, 10 different glutamate receptor subunits have been identified and cloned. To study the ion channel properties ...

Fast excitatory neurotransmission in the central nervous system is mediated through glutamate acting on ionotropic glutamate receptors. However, glutamate acting on metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) can also exert an inhibitory action. Here, we report by immunocytochemistry and physiology, to our knowledge, the first glutamate receptor to be found in terminals of photoreceptors in the m...

Thin basal dendrites can strongly influence neuronal output via generation of dendritic spikes. It was recently postulated that glial processes actively support dendritic spikes by either ceasing glutamate uptake or by actively releasing glutamate and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). We used calcium imaging to study the role of NR2C/D-containing N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and adenosine ...