Endogenous ion channel complexes: the NMDA receptor.

René A W Frank

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Genome Campus, Cambridge U.K. rf3@sanger.ac.uk

Biochemical Society transactions 2011 Jun

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Ionotropic receptors, including the NMDAR (N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor) mediate fast neurotransmission, neurodevelopment, neuronal excitability and learning. In the present article, the structure and function of the NMDAR is reviewed with the aim to condense our current understanding and highlight frontiers where important questions regarding the biology of this receptor remain unanswered. In the second part of the present review, new biochemical and genetic approaches for the investigation of ion channel receptor complexes will be discussed.