Ionotropic glutamate receptors cloning

Non-NMDA ionotropic glutamate receptors (the majority sodium channel containing) can be subdivided into a-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA) (comprising cloned subunits GluRl ) and kainate (GluR5-7, KAl-2) preferring receptors, with native receptors most likely to comprise either homo- or heteromeric pentamers of these subunits. 

Ciabarra AM, Sullivan JM, Gahn LG, Pecht G, Heinemann S, Sevarino KA. 1995. Cloning and characterization of chi-1 a developmental regulated member of a novel class of the ionotropic glutamate receptor family. J. Neurosci. 15 6498-508... 

Lodge D (2009) The history of the pharmacology and cloning of ionotropic glutamate receptors and the development of idiosyncratic nomenclature. Neuropharmacology 56 6-21... 

In 1990, Seeburg et al. reported the first cloning of a gene expresing a functional ionotropic glutamate receptor... 

Four main types of glutamate receptor have been identified and cloned. These are the ionotropic receptors (NMDA and alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole, AMP A, and kainate types) and a group of metabotropic receptors of which eight types have been discovered. The AMP A and kainate receptors are involved in fast excitatory transmission whereas the NMDA receptors mediate slower excitatory responses and play a more complex role in mediating synaptic plasticity. 

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