Fig. 1

Tripartite signalling of the NMDAR. A hypothesized model by which the NMDAR transduces signals in three parallel streams. The binding of glycine and glutamate to the ABD mediate channel gating and ionotropic function causing depolarization through monovalent cation flux and through calcium influx to downstream calcium-dependent pathways. The NMDAR can also signal non-ionotropically, through either glycine or glutamate binding independent of binding of the other co-agonist, initiating conformational changes propagated across the plasma membrane, and downstream protein-protein interactions