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Kainate receptors

Finding homes at synapses

Nature volume 389, pages 542–543 (1997)Cite this article

Synapses are the structures that the brain uses to process information and store memories. Textbook descriptions of a typical excitatory synapse show glutamate — released from presynaptic nerve terminals — activating two families of receptors, the AMPA (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid) and NMDA ( N -methyl-D-aspartate) receptors, in the postsynaptic cell. The function of a third family of glutamate receptors, which have a high affinity for the neurotoxins kainate and domoate, has remained an enigma. Anatomical studies show that kainate-receptor messenger RNA and protein are widely expressed in brain tissue, yet attempts to identify synaptic responses linked to kainate receptors have been unsuccessful. But now, a series of papers1,2,3 culminating in the letter by Clarke et al.1 on page 599 of this issue, reveal, for the first time, a role for kainate receptors in synaptic transmission.

Why did these new studies succeed in finding kainate-receptor responses where previous work has failed? The answers are, in retrospect, both predictable and surprising. New pharmacological probes were pivotal in allowing Clarke et al. to identify a presynaptic inhibitory effect by kainate on the release of another neurotransmitter, GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid). So, with better tools in the pipeline, it should soon be possible to identify additional functions for kainate receptors at other synapses. Perhaps more surprising was the identification by Castillo et al.2, and Vignes and Collingridge3, of kainate-receptor excitatory postsynaptic responses. This was achieved by a combination of persistence and clever experimental design, but using tools that had been available for several years.

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Figure 1: A new biology for kainate receptors at central synapses.

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  1. the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Neurophysiology, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda>, 20892, Maryland, USA

    Mark Mayer

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Mayer, M. Finding homes at synapses. Nature 389, 542–543 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/39177

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