背景资料:Gamma-amGlycine is an important inhibitory transmitter in the brainstem and spinal cord. Glycine receptors are members of the ligand-gated ion channel family (LGICs) that mediate rapid chemical neurotransmission. The binding of glycine to its receptor produces a large increase in chloride conductance, which causes membrane hyperpolarization. Glycine receptors are anchored at inhibitory chemical synapses by a cytoplasmic protein, gephyrin. Gene targeting in mice showed that gephyrin is required for synaptic clustering of glycine receptors in spinal cord. The glycine receptor has been used to great advantage in the identification of the binding sites for alcohol on the LGIC family of proteins. These receptors have also been extremely useful in studies of synaptic clustering of receptors. During postnatal motoneuron development, the glycine receptor alpha subunit changes from alpha2 (fetal) to alpha1 (adult).