Glycine Receptor Polyclonal Antibody

Glycine is an important inhibitory transmitter in the brain stem and spinal cord. Glycine receptors are members of the ligand-gated ion channel family (LGICs) that mediate rapid chemical neurotransmission.¹ The binding of glycine to its receptor produces a large increase in chloride conductance, which causes membrane hyperpolarization. Glycine receptors are anchored at inhibitory chemical synapses by a cytoplasmic protein, gephyrin.² The glycine receptor has been used to great advantage in the identification of the binding sites for alcohol on the LGIC family of proteins.^3,4 These receptors have also been extremely useful in studies of synaptic clustering of receptors.⁵ The glycine receptor may also act in concert with an NMDAR subunit to form an excitatory receptor.⁶

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1. Schofield, C.M., Jenkins, A., and Harrison, N.L. A highly conserved aspartic acid residue in the signature disulfide loop of the .alpa.1-subunit is a determinant of gating in the glycine receptor. The Journal of Biological Chemisty 278, 34079-34083 (2003).

2. Fischer, F., Kneussel, M., Tintrup, H., et al. Reduced synaptic clustering of GABA and glycine receptors in the retina of the gephyrin null mutant mouse. J. Comp. Neurol. 427, 634-648 (2000).

3. Beckstead, M.J., Phelan, R., and Mihic, S.J. Antagonism of inhalant and volatile anesthetic enhancement of glycine receptor function. The Journal of Biological Chemisty 276, 24959-24964 (2001).

4. Mihic, S.J., Ye, Q., Wick, M.J., et al. Sites of alcohol and volatile anaesthetic action of GABA_A and glycine receptors. Nature 389, 385-389 (1997).

5. Craig, A.M., and Lichtman, J.W. Getting a bead on receptor movements. Nat. Neurosci. 4, 219-220 (2001).

6. Chatterton, J.E., Awobuluyi, M., Premkumar, L.S., et al. Excitatory glycine receptors containing the NR3 family of NMDA receptor subunits. Nature 415, 793-798 (2002).