Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Glutamate ionotropic receptor kainate type subunit 2, also known as ionotropic glutamate receptor 6 or GluR6, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the GRIK2 (or GLUR6) gene. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Function
Glutamate receptors are the predominant excitatory neurotransmitter receptors in the mammalian brain and are activated in a variety of normal neurophysiologic processes. This gene product belongs to a family of glutamate receptors that are sensitive to alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA), called AMPA receptors, and function as ligand-activated cation channels.
Glutamate is a prime example of an excitotoxin in the brain, and it is also the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system of mammals. [14] During normal conditions, glutamate concentration can be increased up to 1mM in the synaptic cleft, which is rapidly decreased in the lapse of milliseconds. [15]
Glutamate is a very major constituent of a wide variety of proteins; consequently it is one of the most abundant amino acids in the human body. [1] Glutamate is formally classified as a non-essential amino acid, because it can be synthesized (in sufficient quantities for health) from α-ketoglutaric acid, which is produced as part of the citric acid cycle by a series of reactions whose ...
Without the activity of glutamate transporters, glutamate would build up and kill cells in a process called excitotoxicity, in which excessive amounts of glutamate acts as a toxin to neurons by triggering a number of biochemical cascades. The activity of glutamate transporters also allows glutamate to be recycled for repeated release. [4]
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 with multiple subunits, each possessing transmembrane regions , and all arranged to form a ligand-gated ion channel .
Glutamate receptors and impaired regulation (in particular, those resulting in excessive glutamate levels) are also one cause of excitotoxicity (described above), which itself has been implicated or associated with a number of specific neurodegenerative conditions where neural cell death or degradation within the brain occurs over time.
Glutamate functions as the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system through activation of ligand-gated ion channels and G protein-coupled membrane receptors. The protein encoded by this gene forms functional heteromeric kainate -preferring ionic channels with the subunits encoded by related gene family members.