Imaging of AMPA receptors and synaptic plasticity / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

ABSTRACT

In the central nervous system, ionotropic AMPA receptors mediate the majority of the fast excitatory synaptic transmission.Trafficking of AMPA receptors into and out of synapses is a highly dynamic process, which plays a key role in synaptic plasticity that is critical for higher brain functions such as learning and memory. Genetic alterations in AMPA receptor or proteins that regulate AMPA receptors trafficking have been implicated in various diseases, including autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, Alzheimer′s disease, and intellectual disability. Thus, elucidating the regulation of AMPA trafficking and function is vital to understanding higher brain functions. Many studies have used live imaging of fluorescently tagged AMPA receptors to directly monitor their membrane trafficking in real time,but most of these studies were performed in vitro using neuronal cell cultures or brain slices.Recent technological advances have allowed the imaging of synaptic proteins in vivo in intact organisms, which enables the visualization of synaptic plasticity at a molecular level in living animals.In this review, we mainly discuss the latest development in AMPA receptors trafficking studies and elucidate the contributions of receptor imaging in vitro and in vivo to understanding the molecular mechanisms under-lying synaptic plasticity.