Ligand gated G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) compose the largest family of mammalian genes and represent the target of nearly half of used drugs. Activation of these receptors has been believed to occur over a timecourse spanning several hundred milliseconds. A 2009 report in PNAS from Macaggi et al uses ALA’s High Speed Solution Exchanger (HSSE 2/3) combined with FRET imaging to demonstrate that the metabotropic glutamate receptor, mGluR1β, activates on the sub 10ms timescale. Considering the mGluR1β receptors are located close to the synaptic cleft, they would experience brief glutamate transients. Such receptors would be physiologically suited to this location with fast activation kinetics, and helps us further understand the role ligand gated receptors play in synaptic transmission.

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