DESPERATELY SEEKING SUBUNITS - ARE NATIVE 5-HT3 RECEPTORS REALLY HOMOMERIC COMPLEXES

The 5-HT3 receptor complex is a ligand-gated ion channel, and is there fore likely to comprise multiple subunits in common with other members of this superfamily. To date, however, only one 5-MT3 receptor subuni t, plus an alternatively spliced variant, have been identified. In thi s article, Stephanie Fletcher and Nicholas Barnes review some of the e xtensive data in the literature that suggest the presence of other 5-H T3 receptor subunits, This is particularly relevant given the recent d emonstration that the 5-HT3 receptor purified from pig brain contains a non-5-HT3A-like protein(s).