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Why have Ionotropic and Metabotropic Glutamate Antagonists Failed in Stroke Therapy?

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New Strategies in Stroke Intervention

Part of the book series: Contemporary Neuroscience ((CNEURO))

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Abstract

The concept of “excitotoxicity” was introduced in 1969 when Olney and Sharpe first demonstrated that neurons exposed to their own neurotransmitter glutamate were destined to die Later on, in 1985, glutamate toxicity was associated with anoxic cell death, since anoxic depolarization resulted in the release of glutamate into the extracellular compartments Similarly, in 1987, Choi indicated that glutamate was a remarkably potent and rapidly acting neurotoxin able to mediate neurotoxic effects by inducing Ca2+ influx through glutamate receptor activation, and he supported the theory that glutamate can be considered a key neurotransmitter in developing many neurological diseases Since then, glutamate receptors have been the most studied channels involved in ischemic stroke pathophysiology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division Pharmacology, Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, “Federico II” University of Naples, Via Pansini 5, 80131, Naples, Italy

    Gianfranco Di Renzo & Lucio Annunziato

  2. Division Pharmacology, Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, “Federico II” University of Naples, Naples, Italy

    Giuseppe Pignataro

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  1. Gianfranco Di Renzo
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Correspondence to Gianfranco Di Renzo .

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  1. Fac. Medicina e Chirurgia, Università di Napoli, Via Sergio Pansini 5, Napoli, 80131, Italy

    Lucio Annunziato

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Di Renzo, G., Pignataro, G., Annunziato, L. (2009). Why have Ionotropic and Metabotropic Glutamate Antagonists Failed in Stroke Therapy?. In: Annunziato, L. (eds) New Strategies in Stroke Intervention. Contemporary Neuroscience. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-280-3_2

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