receptor organization and trafficking

glutamate receptor trafficking

Activity-dependent changes in the number of AMPA-type glutamate receptors are thought to be the cellular substrates of learning and memory. For this reason, many studies focus on the long-term changes in the receptor number and synaptic efficacy. We have learned a great deal about their long-term regulation. However, little is known about the initial changes, particularly of the first few hundred milliseconds, although this time period determines the ultimate fate of the particular synapses. To visualize glutamate receptor trafficking and study the mechanisms, we are using the flash-and-freeze approach in combination with the correlative super-resolution and electron microscopy technique – nano-fEM.

current projects:

  1. Visualizing exocytosis and endocytosis of AMPA receptors
  2. Charactering the kinetics of AMPA receptor trafficking
  3. Identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying the receptor trafficking
  4. Developing novel correlative imaging tags

related publications

Li, S., Raychaudhuri, S., Lee, S.A., Wang, J., Kusick, G.F., Prater, C., Syed, S., Falahati, H., Ramos, R., Bartol, T.M., Hosy, E., and Watanabe., S., (2021) Asynchronous release sites are aligned with NMDA receptors at mouse hippocampal synapses. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21004-x. link pdf

 

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