Glutamate receptors mediate most excitatory neurotransmission in the brain and play an important role in neural plasticity, neural development and neurodegeneration. Ionotropic glutamate receptors are categorized into NMDA receptors and kainate/AMPA receptors, both of which contain glutamate-gated, cation-specific ion channels. Kainate/AMPA receptors are co-localized with NMDA receptors in many synapses and consist of seven structurally related subunits designated GluR-1 to -7. The kainate/AMPA receptors are primarily responsible for the fast excitatory neuro-transmission by glutamate whereas the NMDA receptors are functionally characterized by a slow kinetic and a high permeability for Ca2+ ions. The NMDA receptors consist of five subunits: epsilion 1, 2, 3, 4 and one zeta subunit. The zeta subunit is expressed throughout the brainstem whereas the four epsilon subunits display limited distribution.
