Pharmacology and Toxicology of Astrocyte-Neuron Glutamate Transport and Cycling
- 1Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway (U.S., H.Q.); and2Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (M.A.)
- Dr. Michael Aschner, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1083. E-mail:maschner{at}wfubmc.edu
Abstract
The interaction between astrocytes and neurons is examined from the standpoint of glutamate neurotoxicity. The review details 1) the distribution of glutamate transporters on astrocytes and neurons, provoking a reformulation of the interdependence between these two cell types in removing extracellular glutamate and preventing excitotoxic injury; 2) the potential involvement of aberrant glutamate transporter function in the etiology of neuropathological conditions; 3) the role of astrocyte-neuron interaction in widely divergent aspects of brain energetics; 4) the role of astrocytes in the process of glutamate recycling within the context of anesthetic treatment with pentobarbital and thiopental.
Footnotes
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This review was supported by the Research Council of Norway (to U.S.), SINTEF Unimed Foundations (to U.S.), the Normox NorFa grant (to U.S.), the Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) (to H.Q.), and U.S. Public Health Service grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS 07331 and 10563) (to M.A.).
- Abbreviations:
- CNS
- central nervous system
- NMDAR
- N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor
- ROS
- reactive oxygen species
- GLT1
- glutamate transporter 1
- EAA
- excitatory amino acid
- GSH
- glutathione
- GLAST
- glutamate/aspartate transporter
- ALS
- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- TCA
- tricarboxylic acid
- GABA
- γ-aminobutyric acid
- dB-cAMP
- dibutyryl cyclic AMP
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- Received December 6, 2001.
- Accepted January 9, 2002.
- The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
