Surface trafficking of receptors between synaptic and extrasynaptic membranes: And yet they do move!

1. Trends Neurosci. 2005 Mar;28(3):133-9.

Surface trafficking of receptors between synaptic and extrasynaptic membranes:
and yet they do move!

Triller A(1), Choquet D.

Author information:
(1)INSERM UR497, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 46 Rue d’Ulm, Paris F75005, France.

Concentration of neurotransmitter receptors at synapses is thought to result from
stable binding to subsynaptic scaffold proteins. Recent data on synaptic
plasticity have shown that changes in synaptic strength derive partly from
modification of postsynaptic receptor numbers. This has led to the notion of
receptor trafficking into and out of synapses. The proposed underlying mechanisms
have under-evaluated the role of extrasynaptic receptors. Recent technological
advances have allowed imaging of receptor movements at the single-molecule level,
and these experiments demonstrate that receptors switch at unexpected rates
between extrasynaptic and synaptic localizations by lateral diffusion. Variation
in receptor numbers at postsynaptic sites is therefore likely to depend on
regulation of diffusion by modification of the structure of the membrane and/or
by transient interactions with scaffolding proteins. This review is part of the
TINS Synaptic Connectivity series.

DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2005.01.001
PMID: 15749166 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

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