Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Subscribe

Sci. Signal., 13 May 2008
Vol. 1, Issue 19, p. re3
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.119re3]

REVIEWS

Is Zinc a Neuromodulator?

Alan R. Kay1* and Katalin Tóth2

1Department of Biology, 336 BB, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
2Centre de Recherche and Department of Psychiatry, Université Laval Robert Giffard, 2601 chemin de la Canardière, F6550, Québec, QC G1J 2G3, Canada.

Abstract: The vesicles of certain glutamatergic terminals in the mammalian forebrain are replete with ionic zinc. It is believed that during synaptic transmission zinc is released, binds to receptors on the pre- or postsynaptic membranes, and hence acts as a neuromodulator. Although exogenous zinc modulates a wide variety of channels, whether synaptic zinc transits across the synaptic cleft and alters the response of channels has been difficult to establish. We will review the evidence for zinc as a neuromodulator and propose diagnostic criteria for establishing whether it is indeed one. Moreover, we will delineate alternative ways in which zinc might act at synapses.

*Corresponding author. E-mail, alan-kay{at}uiowa.edu

Citation: A. R. Kay, K. Tóth, Is Zinc a Neuromodulator? Sci. Signal. 1, re3 (2008).

Read the Full Text

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Kv3 channel assembly, trafficking and activity are regulated by zinc through different binding sites.
Y. Gu, J. Barry, and C. Gu (2013)
J. Physiol. 591, 2491-2507
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Intronic GABRG2 Mutation, IVS6+2T->G, Associated with Childhood Absence Epilepsy Altered Subunit mRNA Intron Splicing, Activated Nonsense-Mediated Decay, and Produced a Stable Truncated {gamma}2 Subunit.
M. Tian and R. L. Macdonald (2012)
J. Neurosci. 32, 5937-5952
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Vesicular Zinc Regulates the Ca2+ Sensitivity of a Subpopulation of Presynaptic Vesicles at Hippocampal Mossy Fiber Terminals.
N. Lavoie, D. V. Jeyaraju, M. R. Peralta III, L. Seress, L. Pellegrini, and K. Toth (2011)
J. Neurosci. 31, 18251-18265
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Synaptically evoked Ca2+ release from intracellular stores is not influenced by vesicular zinc in CA3 hippocampal pyramidal neurones.
A. Evstratova and K. Toth (2011)
J. Physiol. 589, 5677-5689
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Neurophysiology and Pathology of Brain Zinc.
S. L. Sensi, P. Paoletti, J.-Y. Koh, E. Aizenman, A. I. Bush, and M. Hershfinkel (2011)
J. Neurosci. 31, 16076-16085
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882