Metabotropic GABA

Table 5.5 Metabotropic GABA(B)-, glutamate- and serotonin-receptors ...

Blein S, Hawrot E, Barlow P (2000) The metabotropic GABA receptor molecular insights and their functional consequences. Cell Mol Life Sci 57 635-650. 

Rodrtguez-Moreno, A. and Lerma, J. (1998) Kainate receptor modulation of GABA release involves a metabotropic function. Neuron 20,1211-1218. 

Molecular Neuropharmacology Strategies and Methods is intended to bridge the gap between molecular biology and advanced chemistry. In addition, it attempts to include information about x-ray crystallographic analyses whenever available. This book discusses interdisciplinary interactions for monoamine transporters, amino acid transporters, ionotropic receptors, metabotropic glutamate receptors, GABA receptors, and other G protein-coupled receptors. 

There are two major types of receptor which are activated by neurotransmitters. These are the ionotropic and metabotropic receptors. The former receptor type is illustrated by the amino acid neurotransmitter receptors for glutamate, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glycine, and the acetylcholine receptors of the nicotinic type. These are examples of fast transmitters in that they rapidly open and close the ionic channels in... 

Kaupmann, K., Huggel, K., Heid, J., Flor, P.J., Bischoff, S., Mickel, S.J., McMaster, G., Angst, C., Bittiger, H., Froestl, W., Bettler, B. Expression cloning of GABA(B) receptors uncovers similarity to metabotropic glutamate receptors, Nature 1997, 386, 223-224. 

Glutamate and GABA mediate transmission at most central excitatory and inhibitory synapses, respectively. Besides their quick actions at ionotropic receptors, glutamate and GABA, similarly to most other chemical mediators, can activate metabotropic receptors generally endowed with modulatory functions. 

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