Kainate Receptors: Multiple Roles in Neuronal Plasticity

Ionotropic glutamate receptors of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)- and AMPA-type, as well as metabotropic glutamate receptors have been extensively invoked in plasticity. Until relatively recently, however, kainate-type receptors (KARs) had been the most elusive to study because of the lack of appro...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Neuroscientist (Baltimore, Md.) Md.), 2014-02, Vol.20 (1), p.29-43
Main Authors: Sihra, Talvinder S., Flores, Gonzalo, Rodríguez-Moreno, Antonio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Antagonists
Hippocampus - physiology
Mice
Mice, Knockout
Neuronal Plasticity - physiology
Receptors, Kainic Acid - physiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Ionotropic glutamate receptors of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)- and AMPA-type, as well as metabotropic glutamate receptors have been extensively invoked in plasticity. Until relatively recently, however, kainate-type receptors (KARs) had been the most elusive to study because of the lack of appropriate pharmacological tools to specifically address their roles. With the development of selective glutamate receptor antagonists, and knockout mice with specific KAR subunits deleted, the functions of KARs in neuromodulation and synaptic transmission, together with their involvement in some types of plasticity, have been extensively probed in the central nervous system. In this review, we summarize the findings related to the roles of KARs in short- and long-term forms of plasticity, primarily in the hippocampus, where KAR function and synaptic plasticity have received avid attention.
ISSN:1073-8584
1089-4098
DOI:10.1177/1073858413478196