31/05/2024 Seminar by Javier Diaz-Alonso

Friday 31st May 2024, at 14:30, in Henri Gastaut meeting room

Javier Diaz-Alonso (University of California, Irvine) invited by Jorge Ramirez-Franco

Intra- and extracellular mechanisms regulating AMPA receptor trafficking at hippocampal synapses

Abstract: AMPA-type glutamate receptors (AMPAR) mediate fast excitatory synaptic transmission in the CNS. Additionally, they are essential in different forms of synaptic plasticity, and thereby play critical roles in neuronal communication and cognitive function. Despite decades of progress, critical gaps remain in our understanding of the precise molecular mechanisms controlling AMPAR trafficking and synaptic accumulation, and their association with glutamatergic dysfunction in neurologic and psychiatric conditions. I will share recently published and preliminary studies from our laboratory tackling 3 relatively understudied, yet crucial mechanisms, which together regulate synaptic AMPAR content: i) the cell-type specific regulation of AMPAR trafficking and function by the GluA1 subunit cytoplasmic carboxy-terminal domain, ii) the role of extracellular interactions between the GluA1 extracellular amino-terminal domain and synaptic cleft proteins and, iii) the role of activity-dependent intracellular interactions between transmembrane AMPAR regulatory proteins (TARPs) and postsynaptic scaffolding proteins.