AMPA receptors: potential implications in development and disease

alpha -amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazoleproprionic acid (AMPA) receptors are one type of ionotropic glutamate receptor involved in rapid excitatory synaptic transmission. AMPA receptors have been increasingly implicated in long-term potentiation, and recent evidence suggests that they may play a role in disorders affecting the nervous system. The finding that early in p ostnatal development AMPA receptors are not expressed has lately been the f ocus of much attention. Resolving the factors involved in AMPA receptor exp ression suggests that their induction is a developmentally regulated proces s with the possibility that alterations in receptor expression may be corre lated with pathology in neurological disorders. This paper provides an over view of factors involved in AMPA receptor induction as well as of their rol e in plasticity and neuronal pathologies.