Fast AMPAR trafficking for a high-frequency synaptic transmission

Choquet D(1).

Author information:
(1)Laboratory of cell Physiology of the synapse, CNRS, UMR 5091, Bordeaux,
France.

AMPA-type glutamate receptors (AMPARs), as well as most other transmembrane
proteins, are not stable in the postsynaptic density as was previously thought,
but undergo constant trafficking in and out of synapses by a combination of
endo/exocytosis and lateral diffusion. The respective contributions of membrane
recycling events and surface trafficking to setting AMPAR numbers at synapses
have been the subject of intense debate. Although this discussion is not yet
settled, it is safe to state that both categories of processes participate in
receptor exchange at synapses at rest and during various forms of plasticity.
More unexpectedly, AMPARs can diffuse at such high rates within the postsynaptic
density itself that their surface trafficking could participate not only in
setting receptor numbers at individual synapses but also in tuning synaptic
transmission during short-term plasticity. I here review recent results that
characterize the activity-dependent properties of AMPAR surface trafficking and
their possible links to fast synaptic transmission.

 

Auteurs Bordeaux Neurocampus