Single channel recordings from synaptosomal AMPA receptors.

Synaptic glutamate receptors play a prominent role in the excitatory neurotransmission in the vertebrate central nervous system. Although elucidation of the functional properties of glutamate receptors using electrophysiologic analyses has yielded important information, methodological and technological limitations have prevented direct measurement of single channel properties of synaptic receptors. Here, we have isolated murine mossy fiber synaptosomes and reconstituted them into small artificial lipid bilayers to characterize the single-channel properties of synaptic alpha amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA)-subtype glutamate receptors.