Structure-activity relationships of amino acid receptor sites on an identifiable cell body in the brain of the land snail Helix aspersa

Abstract

1. 1. Cell 7 in the brain of Helix aspersa was used as a functional single-unit chemoreceptor to study membrane receptor sites which respond to glutamic acid. 2. 2. Conductance measurements made by injecting pulses of constant current across the cell membrane were used to follow the activation of the receptor site. 3. 3. Almost all structural derivatives which interfered with any of the three electrostatically charged sub-moieties of the glutamate molecule were ineffective at the cell membrane. 4. 4. There appears to be great structural similarity among the dicarboxylic amino acid receptor sites found in cat, crab, locust, cockroach and snail neurons.