The concept of excitotoxicity, first established by the pioneering work of John Olney, traditionally has been applied to lesions of the CNS, focusing mostly on glutamate as a neurotoxic excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter. Indeed, glutamate excitotoxicity remains one of the best-supported theories for motor neuron death in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and was the pharmacologic inspir...