Nature Communications (Nov 2019)

AMPA receptors in the synapse turnover by monomer diffusion

  • Jyoji Morise,
  • Kenichi G. N. Suzuki,
  • Ayaka Kitagawa,
  • Yoshihiko Wakazono,
  • Kogo Takamiya,
  • Taka A. Tsunoyama,
  • Yuri L. Nemoto,
  • Hiromu Takematsu,
  • Akihiro Kusumi,
  • Shogo Oka

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13229-8
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 18

Abstract

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The mechanisms regulating the turnover of the AMPARs in the synapse, which is critically important to sustain basic synaptic activity, remains unclear. In this study, authors used single-molecule imaging techniques to demonstrate that AMPAR tetramers are not stable entities and readily fall apart to dimers and monomers that could reform to tetramers at the synapse, and that rapidly diffusing monomers in the plasma membrane are primarily responsible for the AMPAR turnover in the synapse.