Background information
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. Synaptic and extrasynaptic NMDA receptors have been shown to have opposite effects on neuronal survival, CREB function and gene regulation. As one of the four major proteins of the NMDA receptor ion channel, GRINA (Glutamate [NMDA] receptor-associated protein 1), also designated NMDA receptor glutamate-binding subunit or putative MAPK-activating protein PM02, is a 371 amino acid multi-pass transmembrane protein. Due to the chromosomal location of the gene encoding GRINA, studies have linked possible GRINA involvement with a form of idiopathic generalized epilepsy.
