There are five types of kainate receptor subunits, GluR5 (GRIK1), GluR6 (GRIK2), GluR7 (GRIK3), KA1 (GRIK4) and KA2 (GRIK5), which are similar to AMPA and NMDA receptor subunits and can be arranged in different ways to form a tetramer, a four subunit receptor.
Postoji pet tipova podjedinica kainatnog receptora, GluR5 (GRIK1), GluR6 (GRIK2), GluR7 (GRIK3), KA1 (GRIK4) i KA2 (GRIK5), koji su slični sa AMPA i NMDA receptorskim podjedinicama i mogu da budu aranžirani na različite načine da formiraju tetramer, receptor sa četiri podjedinice.