REVIEW article
Front. Synaptic Neurosci.
Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnsyn.2025.1661342
This article is part of the Research TopicCross-Talk of Synaptic Proteins in Neurological DiseasesView all articles
AMPA Receptors in the Evolving Synapse: Structure, Function, and Disease Implications
Provisionally accepted
- Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India
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Synapses, once considered static conduits for neuronal signals, are now recognized as dynamic, multifunctional structures critical to brain function, plasticity, and disease. This evolving understanding has highlighted the tripartite nature of synapses, including presynaptic terminals, postsynaptic compartments, and regulatory glial elements. Among excitatory synapses, glutamatergic transmission dominates, with AMPA receptors (AMPARs) playing a central role in fast synaptic signaling. AMPARs are tetrameric, ligand-gated ion channels that mediate rapid depolarization and are tightly regulated by subunit composition, trafficking, and interactions with scaffolding and signaling proteins. Their activity-dependent modulation underpins key processes such as long-term potentiation and depression, central to learning and memory. Importantly, dysfunctions in AMPAR expression, localization, or signaling are increasingly linked to neurological and psychiatric disorders including autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease. This review discusses AMPAR biology in the context of synaptic organization, highlighting recent advances and ongoing challenges in understanding their roles in health and disease.
Keywords: iGluRs, AMPAR (AMPA receptor), synaptic plasticitiy, TARP, Neurodegenerative Diseases, neurodegeneration
Received: 07 Jul 2025; Accepted: 01 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nair, Francis and Chettri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Deepak Kumaran Nair, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India
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