Excitatory Amino Acid Transmission in Health and Disease

by Robert Balazs, Richard J. Bridges, Carl W. Cotman

Overview

This book provides a comprehensive, easy-to-read survey of excitatory amino acids and synaptic transmission. It begins with descriptions of the structure, function, and pharmacology of both the ionotropic and the metabotropic glutamate receptors and the glutamate transporters. Subsequent chapters deal with molecular aspects of the regulation of glutamatergic transmission, including receptor trafficking, the role of glutamate transport, the unique molecular architecture of the synapses (post-synaptic density), and the signal transduction pathways mediated by glutamate. Also unique to the book is a chapter on synaptic plasticity that covers long-term potentiation and long-term depression in relationship to synaptic function. It is striking that glutamate is implicated in most of the major diseases in the central nervous system, such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and schizophrenia. This book will be invaluable for neuroscientists, pharmacologists, neurologists, and psychiatrists, and for their students and trainees, as well as for others interested in the causes of these disorders and the new therapeutic strategies for their treatment and prevention.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198034179
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/28/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

University of California at Irvine

University of Montana

University of California at Irvine

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Overview and Perspective2. General Characteristics of Ionotrope glutamate receptors3. AMPA Receptors4. Kainate Receptors5. NMDA Receptors6. Delta Glutamate Receptors7. Metabotropic glutamate receptors8. Glutamate Transporters9. Molecular Organization of Glutamate Receptors in the Postsynaptic Density Complex10. Trafficking of Glutamate Receptors11. Excitatory Amino Acid Transmission and Synaptic Plasticity11. Excitatory Amino Acid Transmission and Synaptic Plasticity12. Glutamate and Glutamate Receptors in Neurological Diseases

Editorial Reviews

4 Stars! from Doody

Reviewer: Nicholas J. Maragakis, MD (Johns Hopkins Hospital)
Description: This comprehensive book lays the scientific foundations for excitatory amino acid biology and extends these observations to glutamate's role in neurological diseases.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide the first comprehensive coverage of all the major features of glutamate as an excitatory neurotransmitter. The chapters provide significant detail of the structure and function of the various glutamate receptor and transporter subtypes to provide an in-depth knowledge of the field.
Audience: The book is written for neuroscientists, pharmacologists, neurologists, and psychiatrists, and for their students and trainees. While this is a tall order, the book provides this while delivering on many levels.
Features: The in-depth content of each chapter is nicely completed by the bullet summaries at the end of each chapter providing concise insights into the details. The illustrations offer a unique change of pace to the multicolored, computer-generated graphics to which we have become accustomed and add to the didactic features of the book. The final chapter summarizing our current understanding of the role of glutamate in the development of neurological diseases is well written. It includes in-depth animal as well as human studies in support of the role of glutamatergic pathways in a variety of disorders including stroke, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and neurodegenerative disorders. The basic pathobiology is then extended into the clinical realm for frank analyses of some of the failures of neuroprotective agents (49 studied in 114 stroke trials). This chapter is also highlighted by brief clinical summaries of each disorder, the role of glutamate in the disorder, and some of the current drugs used to treat them (i.e. memantine for Alzheimer's disease). For practicing neurologists or psychiatrists, this chapter alone serves as a well organized synopsis of glutamate's relationship to neurological disease.
Assessment: This book will serve not only as a primer for students learning glutamate biology but also be part of a neuroscientist's, neurologist's, or psychiatrist's arsenal of references as a comprehensive, current, and well organized book with a specific focus on glutamate and disease.

Doody's Review Service

"This book will serve not only as a primer for students learning glutamate biology but also be a part of a neuroscientist's, neurologist's, or psychiatrist's arsenal of references as a comprehensive, current, and well organized book with a specific focus on glutamate and disease." —Doody's

From the Publisher