The Department of Neuroscience, Genentech Incorporated, San Francisco, California 94080, USA.
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2011 Dec 1;3(12):a005678. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a005678.
The postsynaptic side of the synapse is specialized to receive the neurotransmitter signal released from the presynaptic terminal and transduce it into electrical and biochemical changes in the postsynaptic cell. The cardinal functional components of the postsynaptic specialization of excitatory and inhibitory synapses are the ionotropic receptors (ligand-gated channels) for glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), respectively. These receptor channels are concentrated at the postsynaptic membrane and embedded in a dense and rich protein network comprised of anchoring and scaffolding molecules, signaling enzymes, cytoskeletal components, as well as other membrane proteins. Excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic specializations are quite different in molecular organization. The postsynaptic density of excitatory synapses is especially complex and dynamic in composition and regulation; it contains hundreds of different proteins, many of which are required for cognitive function and implicated in psychiatric illness.
突触的突触后侧专门用于接收来自突触前末端释放的神经递质信号，并将其转导为突触后细胞的电和生化变化。兴奋性和抑制性突触的突触后特化的主要功能成分分别是谷氨酸和γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）的离子型受体（配体门控通道）。这些受体通道集中在突触后膜上，并嵌入由锚定和支架分子、信号酶、细胞骨架成分以及其他膜蛋白组成的丰富的蛋白质网络中。兴奋性和抑制性突触后特化在分子组织上有很大的不同。兴奋性突触的突触后密度在组成和调节上特别复杂和动态；它包含数百种不同的蛋白质，其中许多蛋白质是认知功能所必需的，并与精神疾病有关。
