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Cover of Biology of the NMDA Receptor

Biology of the NMDA Receptor

Frontiers in Neuroscience

Editor: Antonius M Van Dongen.

Editor Information
Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; .
ISBN-13: 978-1-4200-4414-0

Excerpt

This book covers many aspects of the biology of NMDARs: their role in controlling structure and function of synapses and neurons during early development; how overstimulation of NMDARs results in excitotoxicity and contributes to several progressive brain disorders, including Huntington’s disease; the newly discovered and intriguing interactions of NMDARs and dopamine receptors that mediate reward in the central nervous system; the role of NMDARs in alcohol dependence and the promise of NMDAR-based therapeutics for treating alcoholism; how functional expression is controlled at the level of gene transcription by several families of transcription factors; how NMDAR activation regulates local synaptic protein synthesis required for long-term changes in synaptic strength; the modulation of NMDAR function by signaling cascades cumulating in activation of protein kinases and phosphatases; the importance of cellular mechanisms underlying trafficking and targeting of NMDAR protein for many of its physiological functions; how NMDAR-mediated calcium signaling in dendritic spines controls synaptic efficacy and spine morphology; the roles NMDARs play in different temporal phases of memory formation in Drosophila; the extracellular modulation of NMDARs by polyamines, subunit-specific inhibitors, zinc ions, and pH, and the structural bases for their effects; a detailed description of NMDAR pharmacology, structure–activity relationships of agonists and antagonists, and roads to therapeutic drug design; the physiological roles played by NMDARs and their molecular structures; NMDAR activation mechanisms and the therapeutic potential of allosteric modulators; and the novel role of presynaptically localized NMDARs in controlling synaptic plasticity.

Contents

Series editors: Sidney A Simon and Miguel AL Nicolelis

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.

Copyright © 2009, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Bookshelf ID: NBK5283PMID: 21204416

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