{"doi":"10.3389/fphar.2020.581098","title":"α1-Adrenergic Receptors in Neurotransmission, Synaptic Plasticity, and Cognition","abstract":"a 1 -adrenergic receptors are G-Protein Coupled Receptors that are involved in neurotransmission and regulate the sympathetic nervous system through binding and activating the neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, and the neurohormone, epinephrine. There are three a 1 -adrenergic receptor subtypes (a 1A , a 1B , a 1D ) that are known to play various roles in neurotransmission and cognition. They are related to two other adrenergic receptor families that also bind norepinephrine and epinephrine, the band a 2 -, each with three subtypes (b 1 , b 2 , b 3 , a 2A , a 2B , a 2C ). Previous studies assessing the roles of a 1 -adrenergic receptors in neurotransmission and cognition have been inconsistent. This was due to the use of poorly-selective ligands and many of these studies were published before the characterization of the cloned receptor subtypes and the subsequent development of animal models. With the availability of more-selective ligands and the development of animal models, a clearer picture of their role in cognition and neurotransmission can be assessed. In this review, we highlight the significant role that the a 1 -adrenergic receptor plays in regulating synaptic efficacy, both short and long-term synaptic plasticity, and its regulation of different types of memory. We will also present evidence that the a 1 -adrenergic receptors, and particularly the a 1A -adrenergic receptor subtype, are a potentially good target to treat a wide variety of neurological conditions with diminished cognition.","journal":"Frontiers in Pharmacology","year":2020,"id":53062,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":123,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9441,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":270183,"name":"Dianne M. Perez","orcid":"0000-0002-1790-5776","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":355,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T20:44:25.349797Z","pmid":"33117176","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}