Neuroscience
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Glutamatergic signaling has been exceptionally well characterized in the brain's gray matter, where it underlies fast information processing, learning and memory, and also generates the neuronal damage that occurs in pathological conditions such as stroke. The role of glutamatergic signaling in the white matter, an area until recently thought to be devoid of synapses, is less well understood. Here we review what is known, and highlight what is not known, of glutamatergic signaling in the white matter. We focus on how glutamate is released, the location and properties of the receptors it acts on, the interacting molecules that may regulate trafficking or signaling of the receptors, the possible functional roles of glutamate in the white matter, and its pathological effects including the possibility of treating white matter disorders with glutamate receptor blockers.
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Activity dependent modification of receptors in the post-synaptic density is a key determinant in regulating the strength of synaptic transmission during development and plasticity. A major mechanism for this recruitment and removal of postsynaptic proteins is the lateral diffusion in the plane of the plasma membrane. ⋯ In recent years significant progress has been achieved using optical approaches such as single particle tracking (SPT) and fluorescence recovery after photobleach (FRAP). Here, we provide an overview of the principles and methodology of these techniques and highlight the contributions they have made to current understanding of protein mobility in the plasma membrane.