Stimulation of glutamate receptor protein synthesis and membrane insertionwithin isolated neuronal dendrites

The selective subcellular localization of mRNAs to dendrites and the recent demonstration of local protein synthesis have highlighted the potential ro le of postsynaptic sites in modulation of cell-cell communication. We show that epitope-tagged subunit 2 of the ionotopic glutamate receptor, GluR2, m RNA transfected into isolated hippocampal neuronal dendrites is translated in response to pharmacologic stimulation. Further, confocal imaging of N-te rminally labeled GluR2 reveals that the newly synthesized GluR2 protein can integrate into the dendritic membrane with the N terminus externally local ized, These data demonstrate that integral membrane proteins can be synthes ized in dendrites and can locally integrate into the cell membrane.