PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lu Chen
AU  - Alaa El-Husseini
AU  - Susumu Tomita
AU  - David S. Bredt
AU  - Roger A. Nicoll
TI  - Stargazin Differentially Controls the Trafficking of α-Amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate and Kainate Receptors
AID  - 10.1124/mol.64.3.703
DP  - 2003 Sep 01
TA  - Molecular Pharmacology
PG  - 703--706
VI  - 64
IP  - 3
4099  - http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/64/3/703.short
4100  - http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/64/3/703.full
SO  - Mol Pharmacol2003 Sep 01; 64
AB  - Synaptic plasticity at excitatory synapses in the brain is largely achieved by rapid changes in the number of synaptic α-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate (AMPA) receptors. Stargazin, a membrane protein that interacts with AMPA receptors, is believed to play a pivotal role in trafficking AMPA receptors to the plasma membrane and targeting them to the synapse. However, it is unclear whether the trafficking of kainate receptors, which are structurally very similar to AMPA receptors, is also dependent on stargazin. Here we show that in both cerebellar granule cells and in Xenopus laevis oocytes expression system, surface delivery of kainate receptor is independent of stargazin. These results suggest that stargazin action is highly selective for AMPA receptors.