Background of the antigen
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 fast excitatory neurotransmission by glutamate, whereas the NMDA receptors exhibit slow kinetics of Ca2+ ions and a high permeability for Ca2+ ions.
