Editorial: NMDA receptors in physiology and disease

BAEZ, MARÍA VERÓNICA; DUPUIS, JULIEN P.; CALFA, GASTON DIEGO

Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience

Frontiers Media SA

Año: 2023 vol. 15

-methyl D-aspartate glutamate receptors (NMDAR) play essential roles in the central nervous system, ranging from synaptogenesis to experience-dependent adaptation and higher cognitive functions. Not surprisingly, impairments in NMDAR signaling have been associated with a broad range of devastating neurological and psychiatric conditions including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, Alzheimer´s, Huntington´s, and Parkinson´s diseases. Thus, understanding how the biogenesis, molecular architecture, surface trafficking, subcellular localization, gating properties, synaptic anchoring and organization of NMDAR shape physiological brain functions, and dissecting how hypo- or hyperfunctions of NMDAR contribute to the etiology of brain conditions has attracted growing attention and efforts. Over the past two decades, the developments of super-resolution microscopy, cryo-electron microscopy, chemogenetics, optogenetics, and optopharmacology have allowed breakthrough discoveries on the