Franco Rafael
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica August Pi i Sunyer, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2009 Aug;116(8):983-7. doi: 10.1007/s00702-008-0148-y. Epub 2008 Nov 11.
Metabotropic receptors for neurotransmitters on the plasma membrane of neurons are forming homo- hetero- dimers and even homo- or hetero-oligomers. Neurotransmission has been studied assuming that these G-protein-coupled receptors were monomers. Then, on considering receptor dimers, we are entering a new era for the understanding how neurotransmitter receptors decode signals originating at the nervous system. At the moment it is becoming clear that receptor homo and hetero-oligomers provide signaling diversity, help to understand synaptic plasticity and open new therapeutic potential as targets for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases.
神经元质膜上神经递质的代谢型受体正在形成同二聚体、异二聚体，甚至同寡聚体或异寡聚体。在研究神经传递时，人们一直假定这些G蛋白偶联受体是单体。那么，考虑到受体二聚体，我们正进入一个理解神经递质受体如何解码源自神经系统信号的新时代。目前越来越清楚的是，受体同寡聚体和异寡聚体提供了信号多样性，有助于理解突触可塑性，并为神经退行性疾病和神经精神疾病的治疗开辟了新的潜在靶点。
