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The glutamate/GABA–glutamine cycle is a metabolic pathway that describes the release of either glutamate or GABA from neurons which is then taken up into astrocytes (non-neuronal glial cells). In return, astrocytes release glutamine to be taken up into neurons for use as a precursor to the synthesis of either glutamate or GABA. [2]
A GABA reuptake inhibitor (GRI) is a type of drug which acts as a reuptake inhibitor for the neurotransmitter gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) by blocking the action of the gamma-Aminobutyric acid transporters (GATs). This in turn leads to increased extracellular concentrations of GABA and therefore an increase in GABAergic neurotransmission. [1]
Glutamate is a very major constituent of a wide variety of proteins; consequently it is one of the most abundant amino acids in the human body. [1] Glutamate is formally classified as a non-essential amino acid, because it can be synthesized (in sufficient quantities for health) from α-ketoglutaric acid, which is produced as part of the citric acid cycle by a series of reactions whose ...
Most neurons secrete with glutamate or GABA. Glutamate is excitatory, meaning that the release of glutamate by one cell usually causes adjacent cells to fire an action potential. (Note: Glutamate is chemically identical to the MSG commonly used to flavor food.) GABA is an example of an inhibitory neurotransmitter. Monoamine neurotransmitters:
Glutamate (the conjugate base of glutamic acid) is abundant in the human body, but particularly in the nervous system and especially prominent in the human brain where it is the body's most prominent neurotransmitter, the brain's main excitatory neurotransmitter, and also the precursor for GABA, the brain's main inhibitory neurotransmitter. [2]
The controversy arose when a number of studies have shown that GABA in neonatal brain slices becomes inhibitory if glucose in perfusate is supplemented with ketone bodies, pyruvate, or lactate, [17] [18] or that the excitatory GABA was an artefact of neuronal damage. [19]
Like other GABA-T inhibitors, γ-acetylenic GABA causes GABA levels in the brain to be elevated. This is due to 4-aminobutyrate transaminase being the enzyme that converts γ-aminobutyric acid to L-glutamate. Inhibiting the enzyme stops this conversion from happening.
GABRA2 is an alpha subunit that is part of GABA-A receptors, which are ligand-gated chloride channels and are activated by the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian brain, GABA. Chloride conductance of these channels can be modulated by agents, such as benzodiazepines (psychoactive drugs) that bind to the GABA-A receptor.