title: Advancing NMDA Receptor Physiology by Integrating Multiple Approaches.
abstract: NMDA receptors (NMDARs) are ion channels activated by the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate and are essential to all aspects of brain function, including learning and memory formation. Missense mutations distributed throughout NMDAR subunits have been associated with an array of neurological disorders. Recent structural, functional, and computational studies have generated many insights into the activation process connecting glutamate binding to ion-channel opening, which is central to NMDAR physiology and pathophysiology. The field appears poised for breakthroughs, including the exciting prospect of resolving the conformations and energetics of elementary steps in the activation process, and atomic-level modeling of the effects of missense mutations on receptor function. The most promising strategy going forward is through strong integration of multiple approaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Institute of Molecular Biophysics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA. Electronic address: hzhou4@fsu.edu.
authors.forename: Huan-Xiang
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, and Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. Electronic address: lonnie.wollmuth@stonybrook.edu.
authors.forename: Lonnie P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Wollmuth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020125:Mutation, Missense; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000819:agonists / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate