8 Oct 2013
The mirror-image asymmetry for NMDA receptors expressed by CA1 hippocampal neurons and described in the paper by Ito and coll. can be detected in the main motive of the work of art shown.A perspective paper has been published by Marco Capogna in the last issue of the Journal of Physiology (591.19). This article comments a paper published by Lujan, Shigemoto (ex Unit members), Ito and collaborators published in the same issue of the Journal of Physiology (http://jp.physoc.org./content/591/19/4777.long). The paper by Ito & coll. is the first to dissect out the cellular process that generates molecular asymmetries in the brain. Specifically, it identifies the major histocompatibility complex class I as key molecules involved in regulation of the asymmetry of NMDA receptors at hippocampal synapses.