PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Barberis, Andrea
AU  - Sachidhanandam, Shankar
AU  - Mulle, Christophe
TI  - GluR6/KA2 Kainate Receptors Mediate Slow-Deactivating Currents
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1204-08.2008
DP  - 2008 Jun 18
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 6402--6406
VI  - 28
IP  - 25
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/28/25/6402.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/28/25/6402.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2008 Jun 18; 28
AB  - Kainate receptors (KARs) are ionotropic glutamate receptors contributing to EPSCs with a slow-decaying component that is likely essential for synaptic integration. The slow kinetics of KAR-EPSCs markedly contrasts with the fast kinetics reported for recombinant KARs expressed in heterologous systems, for reasons that remain unexplained. Here we have studied the properties of recombinant heteromeric GluR6/KA2 receptors, which compose synaptic KARs. We report that, in response to brief glutamate applications, currents mediated by recombinant GluR6/KA2 receptors, but not GluR6 receptors, decay with a time course similar to KAR-EPSCs. Model simulations suggest that, after brief agonist exposures, GluR6/KA2 currents undergo slow deactivation caused by the stabilization of partially bound open states. We propose, therefore, that the GluR6/KA2 gating features could contribute to the slow KAR-EPSC decay kinetics.