title: Neurobiology. A stargazer foretells the way to the synapse.
abstract: How do AMPA receptors that are made in the cytoplasm of excitatory neurons travel to and become localized in the distant postsynaptic membranes of dendrites? Nakagawa and Sheng, in a Perspective, suggest that the answer may lie in the stargazin protein that has now been found to interact with AMPA receptors, guiding them to the postsynaptic membrane.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sheng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D003712:Dendrites / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D008954:Models, Biological; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D021381:Protein Transport; D018091:Receptors, AMPA / Q000378:metabolism*; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism; D013570:Synaptic Membranes / Q000378:metabolism*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission
chemical_list: C113940:Cacng2 protein, mouse; D015220:Calcium Channels; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D018091:Receptors, AMPA; C033652:postsynaptic density proteins