Scientists use a novel two-step method to track receptor proteins The neurons in our nervous system "talk" to each other by sending and receiving chemical messages called neurotransmitters. This communication is facilitated by cell membrane proteins called receptors, which pick up neurotransmitters and relay them across cells. In a recent study published in Nature Communications, scientists from Japan report their findings on the dynamics of receptors, which can enable understanding of the processes of memory formation and learning. The regulation of receptor movement and localization within the neuron is important for synaptic plasticity, an important process in the central nervous system. A specific type of glutamate receptor, known as AMPA-type glutamate receptor (AMPAR), undergoes a constant cycle of "trafficking", being cycled in and out of the neuronal membrane. "A precise regulation of this 'trafficking' process is associated with learning, memory formation, and development in neural circuits," says Professor Shigeki Kiyonaka from Nagoya University, Japan, who led the aforementioned study.