N. Brose et al., DIFFERENTIAL ASSEMBLY OF COEXPRESSED GLUTAMATE-RECEPTOR SUBUNITS IN NEURONS OF RAT CEREBRAL-CORTEX, The Journal of biological chemistry, 269(24), 1994, pp. 16780-16784
In the rat, subunits of the glutamate receptor family fall into three
pharmacologically distinct groups: alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-is
oxazole propionic acid preferring receptors (Glu R1-4), kainate prefer
ring receptors (Glu R5-7, KA 1, KA 2), and N-methyl-D-aspartate prefer
ring receptors (NMDA R1, NMDA R2A-2D). In the present study, we demons
trate immunocytochemically that the majority of neurons in rat cerebra
l cortex coexpress members of all three groups of glutamate receptor s
ubunits, Glu R2/3, Glu R5/6/7, and NMDA R1. Using immunoaffinity purif
ied or immunoprecipitated alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole p
ropionic acid, kainate and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, we show tha
t alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid receptors
containing Glu R1-4, kainate receptors containing Glu R6, Glu R7, and
KA 2 and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors containing NMDA R1 each form d
istinct protein complexes that do not share subunits. Our data indicat
e that a mechanism exists which allows for the specific assembly of se
lected glutamate receptor subunits into functionally and structurally
distinct heteromeric receptors.