Receptor types: autoreceptors, heteroreceptors and location
Sorts receptors by what they receive and where they sit — which decides whether a drug turns a signal up, down, or adjusts its own feedback.
Where this fitsConnects to 1 · Unlocks 2
- Connects to
- The synapse: release, binding and termination — Step 6 of the synapse: autoreceptors on the releasing neuron.
- Unlocks
- Norepinephrine and serotonin — and serotonin syndrome — 5-HT1A autoreceptors matter for how antidepressants work.
- Fast doors and slow keypads: ionotropic and metabotropic receptors — Next: what a receptor does once activated.
Orient
Receptors – fairly large molecules (proteins), discriminated by what they “receive”, where they are located, if they themselves are an ion channel, and what subunits they are composed of. Autoreceptors – receptor for same NT that neuron itself produces/releases (feedback control). Heteroreceptors – receptor for different NT that neuron itself produces/releases. Receptors can be presynaptic or postsynaptic, and also somatodendritic or intracellular.
Course terms
Your professor's wording, word for word from the slides. Learn the term and this definition — the explanation underneath is only there to help it make sense.
- Receptor
“Located in site(s) where naturally occurring compounds (transmitters or modulators) produce biological effect”Slides 03, p. 4
Receptors are fairly large molecules (proteins); hundreds of types are known.
- Autoreceptor
“Receptor for same NT that neuron itself produces/releases”Slides 03, p. 5
Feedback control: the neuron senses its own transmitter and adjusts release.
- Heteroreceptor
“Receptor for different NT that neuron itself produces/releases”Slides 03, p. 5
Regulates release based on other NT release.
- Presynaptic receptor
“Presynaptic on axon terminal of presynaptic neuron”Slides 03, p. 7
Can be autoreceptors or heteroreceptors.
- Postsynaptic receptor
“Postsynaptic on dendrites of postsynaptic neuron”Slides 03, p. 7
Activation leads to an EPSP or IPSP; heteroreceptors by definition.
- Somatodendritic / intracellular
“Can also be found on other parts of the neuron (extrasynaptic; somatodendritic) and even *inside* the neuron itself (intracellular)”Slides 03, p. 7
Somatodendritic = on the cell body and dendrites (e.g., 5-HT1A autoreceptors); intracellular = inside the cell (e.g., some 5-HT2A).
From your course: Course slides 03, pp. 4–8
Tip: the ← and → keys move through the lesson.
Full lesson: Receptor classification