Grik3 - glutamate ionotropic receptor kainate type subunit 3

Glutamate receptors are the predominant excitatory neurotransmitter receptors in the mammalian brain and are activated in a variety of normal neurophysiologic processes. This gene product belongs to the kainate family of glutamate receptors, which are composed of four subunits and function as ligand-activated ion channels. Compared to other kainate or AMPA receptors, this subunit exhibits a lower sensitivity to glutamate, and thus may play a unique role in neurotransmission in the brain. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been described for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]