Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 ...
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]
Stylized depiction of an activated NMDAR. Glutamate is in the glutamate-binding site and glycine is in the glycine-binding site. The allosteric site, which modulates receptor function when bound to a ligand, is not occupied. NMDARs require the binding of two molecules of glutamate or aspartate and two of glycine [1] [2]
Excessive glutamate release can overstimulate the brain and lead to excitotoxicity causing cell death resulting in seizures or strokes. [22] Excitotoxicity has been implicated in certain chronic diseases including ischemic stroke , epilepsy , amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , Alzheimer's disease , Huntington disease , and Parkinson's disease .
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.
Glutamate is a prime example of an excitotoxin in the brain, and it is also the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system of mammals. [14] During normal conditions, glutamate concentration can be increased up to 1mM in the synaptic cleft, which is rapidly decreased in the lapse of milliseconds. [15]
Like the dopamine hypothesis, the development of the glutamate hypothesis developed from the observed effects of mind-altering drugs. However, where dopamine agonists can mimic positive symptoms with significant risks to brain structures during and after use, NMDA antagonists mimic some positive and negative symptoms with less brain harm, when ...
Glutamate transporters are a family of neurotransmitter transporter proteins that move glutamate – the principal excitatory neurotransmitter – across a membrane.The family of glutamate transporters is composed of two primary subclasses: the excitatory amino acid transporter (EAAT) family and vesicular glutamate transporter (VGLUT) family.