| AMPA- (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid), kainate-, and NMDA- (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors are the three main families of ionotropic glutamate-gated ion channels. AMPA receptors (AMPARs) are comprised of four subunits (GluR 1-4), which assemble as homo- or hetero-tetramers to mediate the majority of fast excitatory transmissions in the central nervous system. AMPARs are implicated in synapse formation, stabilization, and plasticity (1). In contrast to GluR 2-containing AMPARs, AMPARs that lack GluR 2 are permeable to calcium (2). Post-transcriptional modifications (alternative splicing, nuclear RNA editing) and post-translational modifications (glycosylation, phosphorylation) result in a very large number of permutations, fine-tuning the kinetic properties of AMPARs. Research studies have implicated activity changes in AMPARs in a variety of diseases including Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke, and epilepsy (1).Src family tyrosine kinases phosphorylate the GluR 2 subunit of AMPA receptors at Tyr876, which increases the interaction with GRIP1/2 but not PICK1. In addition, Tyr876 is important for AMPA- and NMDA-induced GluR 2 internalization (3). |
