Multiple routes for glutamate receptor trafficking: surface diffusion and membrane traffic cooperate to bring receptors to synapses.
Science Signaling. 2006-03-14; 2006(327): pe13-pe13
DOI: 10.1126/stke.3272006pe13
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1. Sci STKE. 2006 Mar 21;2006(327):pe13.
Multiple routes for glutamate receptor trafficking: surface diffusion and
membrane traffic cooperate to bring receptors to synapses.
Cognet L(1), Groc L, Lounis B, Choquet D.
Author information:
(1)Centre de Physique Moléculaire Optique et Hertzienne, CNRS (UMR 5798) and
Université Bordeaux 1, 351 Cours de la Libération, 33405 Talence Cedex, France.
Trafficking of glutamate receptors into and out of synapses is critically
involved in the plasticity of excitatory synaptic transmission. Endocytosis and
exocytosis of receptors have initially been thought to account alone for this
trafficking. However, membrane proteins also traffic through surface lateral
diffusion in the plasma membrane. We describe developments in
electrophysiological and optical approaches that have allowed for the real-time
measurement of glutamate receptor surface trafficking in live neurons. These
include (i) specific imaging of surface receptors using a pH-sensitive
fluorescent protein; (ii) design of a photoactivable drug to locally inactivate
surface receptors and monitor electrophysiologically their recovery; and (iii)
application of single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to directly track the
movement of individual surface receptors with nanometer resolution inside and
outside synapses. Together, these approaches have demonstrated that glutamate
receptors diffuse at high rates in the neuronal membrane and suggest a key role
for surface diffusion in the regulation of receptor numbers at synapses.
DOI: 10.1126/stke.3272006pe13
PMID: 16552090 [Indexed for MEDLINE]