Can I read Signal Transmission in Ligand‐gated Receptors on EtoBox?

Signal Transmission in Ligand‐gated Receptors by Peter W Gage is a Immunology and Microbiology article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Signal Transmission in Ligand‐gated Receptors about?

At synapses, a transmitter released from a pre‐synaptic terminal binds to specific, ligand‐gated receptors in the post‐synaptic membrane to open up ion channels through the receptor molecules. The flow of ions through these channels generates electrical signals. Electrophysiological techniques have been used over the past 50 years to understand transmission of these signals at synapses. The most recent of these, the patch‐clamp technique, allows very small picoamp currents through single‐channel molecules to be recorded but gives little information about receptor structure or how drugs influence their function. Now, the subunits of most ligand‐gated ion channels have been cloned and sequenced. Cryo‐electronmicroscopy has revealed the structure of the ion channel activated by nicotinic agonists. It is pentameric and only a small part of it is in the membrane. In spite of this simple structure, the conductance of chloride channels activated by gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA~A~ channels) is very variable and can be increased markedly by drugs such as diazepam. Site‐directed mutagenesis and labelling of cysteine residues in the open and the closed states are being used to define the res

Who reads Signal Transmission in Ligand‐gated Receptors?

Author

Peter W Gage

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group; Wiley (Blackwell Publishing); John Wiley and Sons Inc.; Wiley (ISSN 0818-9641)

Published

1998

Language

EN

Field

Immunology and Microbiology (Life Sciences)