Description
Product Characteristics:
Glutamate receptors mediate most excitatory neurotransmission in the brain and play an important role in neural plasticity, neural development and neurodegeneration. Ionotropic glutamate receptors are categorized into NMDA receptors and kainate/AMPA receptors, both of which contain glutamate-gated, cation-specific ion channels. Kainate/AMPA receptors are co-localized with NMDA receptors in many synapses and consist of seven structurally related subunits designated GluR-1 to -7. The kainate/AMPA receptors are primarily responsible for the fast excitatory neuro-transmission by glutamate, whereas the NMDA receptors are functionally characterized by a slow kinetic and a high permeability for Ca2+ ions. The NMDA receptors consist of five subunits: epsilion 1, 2, 3, 4 and one zeta subunit. The zeta subunit is expressed throughout the brainstem, whereas the four epsilon subunits display limited distribution.
Subcellular location: Cell membrane, Extracellular matrix
Synonyms: AMPA 4, AMPA selective glutamate receptor 4, AMPA-selective glutamate receptor 4, AMPA4, GluA 4, GluA4, GluR 4, GluR D, GluR-4, GluR-D, GLUR4, GLUR4C, GLURD, Glutamate receptor 4, Glutamate receptor ionotrophic AMPA 4, Glutamate receptor ionotropic, GRIA 4, GRIA4, GRIA4_HUMAN.
Target Information: Glutamate receptors are the predominant excitatory neurotransmitter receptors in the mammalian brain and are activated in a variety of normal neurophysiologic processes. These receptors are heteromeric protein complexes composed of multiple subunits, arranged to form ligand-gated ion channels. The classification of glutamate receptors is based on their activation by different pharmacologic agonists. The subunit encoded by this gene belongs to a family of AMPA (alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate)-sensitive glutamate receptors, and is subject to RNA editing (AGA->GGA\, R->G). Alternative splicing of this gene results in transcript variants encoding different isoforms, which may vary in their signal transduction properties. Some haplotypes of this gene show a positive association with schizophrenia. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]