Zinc ions (Zn2+) are stored in synaptic vesicles with glutamate in a number of regions of the brain. When released into the synapse, Zn2+ modulates the activity of various receptors and ion channels. Excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) maintain extracellular glutamate concentrations below toxic levels and regulate the kinetics of glutamate receptor activation. We have investigated the ac...

Astrocytes express ion channels, transmitter receptors, and transporters and, thus, are endowed with the machinery to sense and respond to neuronal activity. Recent studies have implicated that astrocytes play important roles in physiology, but these cells also emerge as crucial actors in epilepsy. Astrocytes are abundantly coupled through gap junctions allowing them to redistribute elevated K(...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common movement disorder disease in the elderly and is characterized by degeneration of dopamine neurons and formation of Lewy bodies. Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS). If glutamate is not removed promptly in the synaptic cleft, it will excessively stimulate the glutamate receptors and induce excitotoxic ...

The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) has been known to contain estrogen (E)-concentrating neurons. In addition, injections of E into BST have been reported to potentiate the sympathoinhibitory arterial pressure (AP) and heart rate (HR) responses elicited by glutamate (Glu) stimulation. In this study, the effect of glutamate antagonist receptors in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVL...

Glutamate transporters play a key role in glutamate clearance and protect the central nervous system from glutamate excitotoxicity. Dysfunctional glutamate transporters contribute to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD); however, the mechanisms that underlie the regulation of glutamate transporters in PD are still not well characterized. Here we report that Nedd4-2 mediates the ubiquiti...

Astrocytes, the main Central Nervous System (CNS) glial cell type, actively release transmitters, including glutamate, and thereby participate in physiological brain information processing. However, dysregulated transmitter from astrocytes can contribute to CNS disease pathogenesis progression. Therefore, targeting astrocyte glutamate is a promising new therapeutic strategy hyper-glutamatergic ...

GABA and glutamate are the major inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters, respectively, in the human brain. Many GABA and glutamate receptors and transporters are key protein targets for drug development, and many known CNS drugs act on these targets. There have been a substantial number of traditional studies of structure–activity relationships in this area. The advent of modern molecular ...

Epilepsy is broadly characterized by aberrant neuronal excitability. Glutamate is the predominant excitatory neurotransmitter in the adult mammalian brain; thus, much of past epilepsy research has attempted to understand the role of glutamate in seizures and epilepsy. Seizures induce elevations in extracellular glutamate, which then contribute to excitotoxic damage. Chronic seizures can alter n...

Glutamate is a regulated molecule in the mammalian testis. Extracellular regulation of glutamate in the body is determined largely by the expression of plasmalemmal glutamate transporters. We have examined by PCR, western blotting and immunocytochemistry the expression of a panel of sodium-dependent plasmalemmal glutamate transporters in the rat testis. Proteins examined included: glutamate asp...

As the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system, glutamate plays a key role in many central pathologies, including gliomas, psychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and neurodegenerative disorders. Post-mortem and serological studies have implicated glutamatergic dysregulation in these pathologies, and pharmacological modulation of glutamate receptors and transporters h...