Glutamate and GABA Receptors and Transporters: Structure, Function and Pharmacology (The Taylor & Francis Series in Pharmaceutical Sciences)

The ubiquitous presence of glutamate and GABA receptors in the nervous system makes these receptor systems pivotal to our understanding of neurotransmission. Cloning of the molecular components of these receptor systems has provided insights to the selectivity of many drugs and detailed characterisation at the molecular level is emerging. Moreover, continuous development of novel and selective drugs has revealed detailed information on the mechanism of receptor activation and regulation. However, the rapid development of different aspects of glutamate and GABA receptor research makes it increasingly difficult to establish a general view of the field. Studies of the receptors are a multi-disciplinary task employing many specialised techniques. This book conveys recent discoveries in a framework of the basic concepts in the field of glutamate and GABA receptor research. Glutamate and GABA Receptors and Transporters: Structure, Function and Pharmacology is suitable for postgraduate students studying ligand gated channels but also beneficial for industrial and academic research scientists in both the glutamate and GABA field. Universities offering programs in neuroscience, molecular pharmacology or medicinal chemistry will find this a valuable reference. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 List of contributors......Page 12 Ionotropic glutamate receptors......Page 14 Ionotropic glutamate receptors: functional and pharmacological properties in relation to constituent subunits......Page 16 Structure of ionotropic glutamate receptors......Page 54 Glutamate receptor trafficking......Page 69 Pharmacology of NMDA receptors......Page 82 Pharmacology of AMPA/kainate receptors......Page 112 Metabotropic glutamate receptors......Page 132 Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs): structure and function......Page 134 Pharmacology of metabotropic glutamate receptors......Page 164 GABAA receptors......Page 200 Insights into GABAA receptor complexity from the study of cerebellar granule cells: synaptic and extrasynaptic receptors......Page 202 GABAA receptor complex: structure and function......Page 215 Ligands for the GABAA receptor complex......Page 249 Metabotropic GABA receptors......Page 288 Molecular structure of the GABAB receptors......Page 290 Pharmacology of GABAB receptors......Page 300 Glutamate and GABA transporters......Page 318 Structure, function and regulation of glutamate transporters......Page 320 GABA transporters: functional and pharmacological properties......Page 350 Pathophysiology and therapeutic prospects......Page 364 Transgenic models for glutamate receptor function......Page 366 Transgenic models for GABAA-receptor function......Page 388 Glutamatergic transmission: therapeutic prospects for schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease......Page 398 Modulators of the GABAA receptor: novel therapeutic prospects......Page 420 Index......Page 442 Describes the structural and functional diversity of the ionotropic and metabotropic classes of receptor that have been identified for glutamate and GABA. This book also describes the analysis of crystallized complexes of recombinant binding domains of these receptors with specific ligands. Ionotropic glutamate receptors underlie fast excitatory transmission at many central synapses.