scholarly journals Control of AMPA receptor activity by the extracellular loops of auxiliary proteins

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Riva ◽  
Clarissa Eibl ◽  
Rudolf Volkmer ◽  
Anna L. Carbone ◽  
Andrew J. R. Plested

AbstractAt synapses throughout the mammalian brain, AMPA receptors form complexes with auxiliary proteins, including TARPs. However, how TARPs modulate AMPA receptor gating remains poorly understood. We built structural models of TARP-AMPA receptor complexes for TARPs γ2 and γ8, combining recent structural studies and de novo structure predictions. These models, combined with peptide binding assays, provide evidence for multiple interactions between GluA2 and variable extracellular loops of TARPs. Substitutions and deletions of these loops had surprisingly rich effects on the kinetics of glutamate-activated currents, without any effect on assembly. Critically, by altering the two interacting loops of γ2 and γ8, we could entirely remove all allosteric modulation of GluA2, without affecting formation of AMPA receptor-TARP complexes. Likewise, substitutions in the linker domains of GluA2 completely removed any effect of Y2 on receptor kinetics, indicating a dominant role for this previously overlooked site proximal to the AMPA receptor channel gate.

eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Riva ◽  
Clarissa Eibl ◽  
Rudolf Volkmer ◽  
Anna L Carbone ◽  
Andrew JR Plested

At synapses throughout the mammalian brain, AMPA receptors form complexes with auxiliary proteins, including TARPs. However, how TARPs modulate AMPA receptor gating remains poorly understood. We built structural models of TARP-AMPA receptor complexes for TARPs γ2 and γ8, combining recent structural studies and de novo structure predictions. These models, combined with peptide binding assays, provide evidence for multiple interactions between GluA2 and variable extracellular loops of TARPs. Substitutions and deletions of these loops had surprisingly rich effects on the kinetics of glutamate-activated currents, without any effect on assembly. Critically, by altering the two interacting loops of γ2 and γ8, we could entirely remove all allosteric modulation of GluA2, without affecting formation of AMPA receptor-TARP complexes. Likewise, substitutions in the linker domains of GluA2 completely removed any effect of γ2 on receptor kinetics, indicating a dominant role for this previously overlooked site proximal to the AMPA receptor channel gate.


Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 364 (6438) ◽  
pp. 355-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Zhao ◽  
Shanshuang Chen ◽  
Adam C. Swensen ◽  
Wei-Jun Qian ◽  
Eric Gouaux

Glutamate-gated AMPA receptors mediate the fast component of excitatory signal transduction at chemical synapses throughout all regions of the mammalian brain. AMPA receptors are tetrameric assemblies composed of four subunits, GluA1–GluA4. Despite decades of study, the subunit composition, subunit arrangement, and molecular structure of native AMPA receptors remain unknown. Here we elucidate the structures of 10 distinct native AMPA receptor complexes by single-particle cryo–electron microscopy (cryo-EM). We find that receptor subunits are arranged nonstochastically, with the GluA2 subunit preferentially occupying the B and D positions of the tetramer and with triheteromeric assemblies comprising a major population of native AMPA receptors. Cryo-EM maps define the structure for S2-M4 linkers between the ligand-binding and transmembrane domains, suggesting how neurotransmitter binding is coupled to ion channel gating.


2001 ◽  
Vol 85 (5) ◽  
pp. 2030-2038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saobo Lei ◽  
Beverley A. Orser ◽  
Gregory R. L. Thatcher ◽  
James N. Reynolds ◽  
John F. MacDonald

Whole-cell or outside-out patch recordings were used to investigate the effects of protons and positive modulators of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors on the desensitization of glutamate-evoked AMPA receptor currents in isolated hippocampal CA1 neurons. Protons inhibited glutamate-evoked currents (IC50 of 6.2 pH units) but also enhanced the apparent rate and extent of AMPA receptor desensitization. The proton-induced enhancement of desensitization could not be attributed to a reduction in the rate of recovery from desensitization or to a change in the kinetics of deactivation. Non-stationary variance analysis indicated that protons reduced maximum open probability without changing the conductance of AMPA channels. The positive modulators of AMPA receptor desensitization, cyclothiazide and GT-21-005 (an organic nitrate), reduced the proton sensitivity of AMPA receptor desensitization, which suggests that they interact with protons to diminish desensitization. In contrast, the effects of wheat germ agglutinin and aniracetam on AMPA receptor desensitization were independent of pH. These results demonstrate that a reduction in the proton sensitivity of receptor desensitization contributes to the mechanism of action of some positive modulators of AMPA receptors.


2003 ◽  
Vol 358 (1432) ◽  
pp. 715-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrice Duprat ◽  
Michael Daw ◽  
Wonil Lim ◽  
Graham Collingridge ◽  
John Isaac

AMPA-type glutamate receptors mediate most fast excitatory synaptic transmissions in the mammalian brain. They are critically involved in the expression of long-term potentiation and long-term depression, forms of synaptic plasticity that are thought to underlie learning and memory. A number of synaptic proteins have been identified that interact with the intracellular C-termini of AMPA receptor subunits. Here, we review recent studies and present new experimental data on the roles of these interacting proteins in regulating the AMPA receptor function during basal synaptic transmission and plasticity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Hardt ◽  
Dario Tascio ◽  
Stefan Passlick ◽  
Aline Timmermann ◽  
Ronald Jabs ◽  
...  

Synaptic and axonal glutamatergic signaling to NG2 glia in white matter is critical for the cells’ differentiation and activity dependent myelination. However, in gray matter the impact of neuron-to-NG2 glia signaling is still elusive, because most of these cells keep their non-myelinating phenotype throughout live. Early in postnatal development, hippocampal NG2 glia express AMPA receptors with a significant Ca2+ permeability allowing for plasticity of the neuron-glia synapses, but whether this property changes by adulthood is not known. Moreover, it is unclear whether NG2 glia express auxiliary transmembrane AMPA receptor related proteins (TARPs), which modify AMPA receptor properties, including their Ca2+ permeability. Through combined molecular and functional analyses, here we show that hippocampal NG2 glia abundantly express TARPs γ4, γ7, and γ8 as well as cornichon (CNIH)-2. TARP γ8 undergoes profound downregulation during development. Receptors of adult NG2 glia showed an increased sensitivity to blockers of Ca2+ permeable AMPA receptors, but this increase mainly concerned receptors located close to the soma. Evoked synaptic currents of NG2 glia were also sensitive to blockers of Ca2+ permeable AMPA receptors. The presence of AMPA receptors with varying Ca2+ permeability during postnatal maturation may be important for the cells’ ability to sense and respond to local glutamatergic activity and for regulating process motility, differentiation, and proliferation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Qneibi ◽  
Nidal Jaradat ◽  
Mohammed Hawash ◽  
Abdel Naser Zaid ◽  
Abdel-Razzak Natsheh ◽  
...  

Lavandula dentata L. and Origanum syriacum L. essential oils have numerous health benefits and properties, such as possessing common components with a variant degree of depressive actions in the central nervous system. We investigated the depressive property of these oils on AMPA receptors, which are responsible for most of the fast-excitatory neurotransmission in the CNS and play a critical role in synaptic plasticity. Since excessive activation of AMPARs has been linked to neurotoxicity leading to various pathologies, we hypothesize that these oils have a neuroprotective role by acting directly on the kinetics of AMPARs. Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) and patch-clamp electrophysiology, the essential oils of L. dentata flowers and O. syriacum leaves were characterized and the whole cell currents were measured with and without the administration of the oils onto HEK293 cells. The current study results showed that the biophysical properties of AMPA receptor subunits showed a decrease in desensitization rate of GluA1 and GluA2 homomers, using O. syriacum, while administering L. dentata oil decreased the desensitization rate of GluA1 and GluA2 homomers, as well as GluA1/2 heteromers. As for the deactivation rate, both oils slowed the deactivation kinetics of all AMPA receptor subunits. Intriguingly, between the two oils, the effect of desensitization and deactivation was of a greater significance for L. dentata oil than O. syriacum. Our data suggest that the two oils contain components that are essential to identify, as those active components underlie the oils’ neuronal depressive properties reported, and to extract them to synthesize a potent neuroprotective drug to treat neurological diseases potentially.


2003 ◽  
Vol 161 (4) ◽  
pp. 805-816 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susumu Tomita ◽  
Lu Chen ◽  
Yoshimi Kawasaki ◽  
Ronald S. Petralia ◽  
Robert J. Wenthold ◽  
...  

Functional expression of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors in cerebellar granule cells requires stargazin, a member of a large family of four-pass transmembrane proteins. Here, we define a family of transmembrane AMPA receptor regulatory proteins (TARPs), which comprise stargazin, γ-3, γ-4, and γ-8, but not related proteins, that mediate surface expression of AMPA receptors. TARPs exhibit discrete and complementary patterns of expression in both neurons and glia in the developing and mature central nervous system. In brain regions that express multiple isoforms, such as cerebral cortex, TARP–AMPA receptor complexes are strictly segregated, suggesting distinct roles for TARP isoforms. TARPs interact with AMPA receptors at the postsynaptic density, and surface expression of mature AMPA receptors requires a TARP. These studies indicate a general role for TARPs in controlling synaptic AMPA receptors throughout the central nervous system.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Zhao ◽  
Shanshuang Chen ◽  
Craig Yoshioka ◽  
Isabelle Baconguis ◽  
Eric Gouaux

SummaryFast excitatory neurotransmission in the mammalian central nervous system is largely carried out by AMPA-sensitive ionotropic glutamate receptors. Localized within the postsynaptic density of glutamatergic spines, AMPA receptors are composed of heterotetrameric receptor assemblies associated with auxiliary subunits, the most common of which are transmembrane AMPA-receptor regulatory proteins (TARPs). The association of TARPs with AMPA receptors modulates the kinetics of receptor gating and pharmacology, as well as trafficking. Here we report the cryo-EM structure of the homomeric GluA2 AMPA receptor saturated with TARP γ2 subunits, showing how the TARPs are arranged with four-fold symmetry around the ion channel domain, making extensive interactions with the M1, M2 and M4 TM helices. Poised like partially opened ‘hands’ underneath the two-fold symmetric ligand binding domain (LBD) ‘clamshells’, one pair of TARPs are juxtaposed near the LBD dimer interface, while the other pair are near the LBD dimer-dimer interface. The extracellular ‘domains’ of TARP are positioned to not only modulate LBD ‘clamshell’ closure, but also to affect conformational rearrangements of the LBD layer associated with receptor activation and desensitization, while the TARP transmembrane (TM) domains buttress the ion channel pore.


1999 ◽  
Vol 91 (5) ◽  
pp. 1329-1329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisy T. Joo ◽  
Zhigang Xiong ◽  
John F. MacDonald ◽  
Zhengping Jia ◽  
John Roder ◽  
...  

Background Barbiturates enhance gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA(A)) receptor function and also inhibit the alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) subtype of glutamate receptor. The relative contribution of these actions to the behavioral properties of barbiturates is not certain. Because AMPA receptor complexes that lack the GluR2 subunit are relatively insensitive to pentobarbital inhibition, GluR2 null mutant mice provide a novel tool to investigate the importance of AMPA receptor inhibition to the anesthetic effects of barbiturates. Methods GluR2 null allele (-/-), heterozygous (+/-), and wild-type (+/+) mice were injected with pentobarbital (30 and 35 mg/kg intraperitoneally). Sensitivity to anesthetics was assessed by measuring the latency to loss of righting reflex, sleep time, and the loss of corneal, pineal, and toe-pinch withdrawal reflexes. In addition, patch-clamp recordings of acutely dissociated CA1 hippocampal pyramidal neurons from (-/-) and (+/+) mice were undertaken to investigate the effects of barbiturates on kainate-activated AMPA receptors and GABA-activated GABA(A) receptors. Results Behavioral tests indicate that sensitivity to pentobarbital was increased in (-/-) mice. In contrast, AMPA receptors from (-/-) neurons were less sensitive to inhibition by pentobarbital (concentrations that produced 50% of the maximal inhibition [IC50], 301 vs. 51 microM), thiopental (IC50, 153 vs. 34 microM), and phenobarbital (IC50, 930 vs. 205 microM) compared with wild-type controls, respectively. In addition, the potency of kainate was greater in (-/-) neurons, whereas no differences were observed for the potentiation of GABA(A) receptors by pentobarbital. Conclusions The GluR2 null mutant mice were more sensitive to pentobarbital anesthesia despite a reduced sensitivity of GluR2-deficient AMPA receptors to barbiturate blockade. Our results indicate that the inhibition of AMPA receptors does not correlate with the anesthetic effects of barbiturates in this animal model. We postulate that the increase in the sensitivity to anesthetics results from a global suppression of excitatory neurotransmission in GluR2-deficient mice.


1996 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 2322-2333 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. W. Fleck ◽  
R. Bahring ◽  
D. K. Patneau ◽  
M. L. Mayer

1. The kinetics of onset of alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor desensitization by glutamate, and the extent of attenuation of AMPA receptor desensitization by cyclothiazide, showed pronounced cell-to-cell variation in cultures of rat hippocampal neurons. Cultures prepared from area CA1 stratum radiatum tended to show weaker modulation by cyclothiazide than cultures prepared from the whole hippocampus. 2. Kinetic analysis of concentration jump responses to glutamate revealed multiple populations of receptors with fast (approximately 400 ms), intermediate (approximately 2-4 s), and slow (> 20 s) time constants for recovery from modulation by cyclothiazide. The amplitudes of these components varied widely between cells, suggesting the existence of at least three populations of AMPA receptor subtypes, the relative density of which varied from cell to cell. 3. The complex patterns of sensitivity to cyclothiazide seen in hippocampal neurons could be reconstituted by assembly of recombinant AMPA receptor subunits generated from cDNAs encoding the flip (i) and flop (o) splice variants of the GluR-A and GluR-B subunits. Recovery from modulation by cyclothiazide was slower for GluR-AiBi and GluR-AoBi than for GluR-AiBo and GluR-AoBo. 4. Coexpression of the flip and flop splice variants of GluR-A, in the absence of GluR-B, revealed that heteromeric AMPA receptors with intermediate sensitivity to cyclothiazide, similar to responses observed for the combinations GluR-AoBi or GluR-AiBo, could be generated independently of the presence of the GluR-B subunit. However, recovery from modulation by cyclothiazide was twofold slower for GluR-AiBi than for homomeric GluR-Ai, indicating that the GluR-A and GluR-B subunits are not functionally equivalent in controlling sensitivity to cyclothiazide. 5. These results demonstrate that AMPA receptors expressed in hippocampal neurons are assembled in a variety of subunit and splice variant combinations that might serve as a mechanism to fine-tune the kinetics of synaptic transmission.


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