Could a novel mechanism for synaptic plasticity hold potential for new epilepsy treatment?

Written by Kimberley Ndungu (Future Science Group)

The AMPA receptor plays a crucial role in memory and learning, however, it is not yet fully understood how these receptors form and work. Therefore, a team of researchers from the Membrane Cooperativity Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (Japan), in collaboration with other universities across Japan, used fluorescent tags to investigate AMPA receptors. In the study published in Nature Communications, the researchers discovered that rather than existing as stable entities, AMPA receptors continually form and disintegrate. AMPA receptors are composed of four subunits (GluA1, 2, 3, and 4) and different combinations of subunits form...

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