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Access through your institution Buy or subscribe The main peculiarity of NR3B is that it can form heteromers with NR1, giving rise to cation-selective channels that need only glycine for
their activation. Although glycine has its own set of receptors, they are selective for anions and have pharmacological properties that are quite different from the NR3B-containing
heteromers. In fact, the pharmacology of NR3B is also atypical in the context of NMDA receptors. So, NR3B is unresponsive to glutamate agonists and antagonists and, although it recognizes
NR1-selective glycine agonists, these drugs behave as NR3B antagonists. Moreover, NR3B-containing receptors are not permeable to Ca2+ and show little of the Mg2+-dependent blockade that is
characteristic of NMDA receptors. Last, the authors revisited the properties of the previously identified NR3 subunit and found that it could also form glutamate-insensitive, glycine-gated
channels when co-expressed with NR1. What is the functional significance of NR3B _in vivo_? As a first step, the authors found that glycine can evoke action potentials in cultured neurons,
an effect that shared, to some degree, the pharmacological profile of the NR1/NR3A heteromers. But as NR3B is expressed in ventral horn motor neurons, it will be interesting to test directly
whether it participates in transmission in the spinal cord, a region in which glycine has long been known to have synaptic actions. This is a preview of subscription content, access via
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* Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support REFERENCES ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER * Chatterton, J. E. et al. Excitatory glycine receptors containing
the NR3 family of NMDA receptor subunits. _Nature_ 30 January 2002 (10.1038/nature715) FURTHER READING * Ciabarra, A. M. et al. Cloning and characterization of chi-1: a developmentally
regulated member of a novel class of the ionotropic glutamate receptor family. _J. Neurosci._ 15, 6498–6508 (1995) Article CAS Google Scholar * Sucher, N. J. et al. Developmental and
regional expression pattern of a novel NMDA receptor-like subunit (NMDAR-L) in the rodent brain. _J. Neurosci._ 15, 6509–6520 (1995) Article CAS Google Scholar * Cull-Candy, S. et al.
NMDA receptor subunits: diversity, development and disease. _Curr. Opin. Neurobiol._ 11, 327–335 (2001) Article CAS Google Scholar Download references Authors * Juan Carlos López View
author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE López, J. A rebellious
last-born. _Nat Rev Neurosci_ 3, 173 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn765 Download citation * Issue Date: 01 March 2002 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn765 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you
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