In a recent study, Belin et al. demonstrated that glycine-bound NMDA receptors can be activated by mechanical forces in the absence of the neurotransmitter glutamate. The stretch-gated receptor exhibits biophysical properties similar to those of glutamate-gated receptors. These findings reveal that glycine-bound NMDA receptors could behave as mechanosensors in central nervous system (CNS) physiology.
Keywords: NMDA receptors; mechanically activated ion channels; mechanosensation.
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