AMPA receptors: New targets for psychiatric disorders

AMPA receptors are one of the major excitatory receptors within the CNS with many of their functional effects being mediated by alterations in their trafficking to the cell surface and targeting into the synapse. Integral to these functions, and consequently, AMPA receptor activity is a class of proteins termed transmembrane AMPA receptor regulatory proteins (TARPs) which also possess diverse effects on AMPA receptor pharmacology. Incredibly, despite the evident importance of TARPs in AMPA receptor function, very few studies even allude to the potential significance of their potential role within the glutamatergic pathology of neurological disorder. This review brushes upon the importance of these proteins as potential targets for therapeutic agents in several psychological disorders where an increasingly significant glutamatergic component is being recognised with a rapidly expanding range of AMPA receptor modulatory compounds - AMPAkines - potentially offering new pharmacological intervention for disorders originally treated by targeting other neurotransmitter systems.