Abstract
Using biochemical and immunohistochemical techniques, the biosynthesis of the excitotoxin quinolinic acid (QUIN) and the anti-excitotoxin kynurenic acid (KYNA) in the rat brain has been demonstrated to take place preferentially in glial cells (see Schwarcz and Du, this volume, for review). Although a dysfunction of either of these two brain metabolites has been hypo-thetically associated with the occurrence of human neuro-psychiatric diseases and seizure disorders (Lapin, 1981; Schwarcz et al., 1984; Stone and Burton, 1988), very little is known about the cellular localization of QUIN and KYNA metabolism in the human brain. We have now used human gliomas obtained during neurosurgery to assess the activity of three enzymes involved in QUIN biosynthesis, and have studied, in separate experiments, the ability of gli-oma to produce KYNA from its bioprecursor L-kynurenine (KYN).
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© 1991 Plenum Press, New York
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Vezzani, A., Gramsbergen, J.B.P., Speciale, C., Schwarcz, R. (1991). Production of Quinolinic Acid and Kynurenic Acid by Human Glioma. In: Schwarcz, R., Young, S.N., Brown, R.R. (eds) Kynurenine and Serotonin Pathways. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 294. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5952-4_95
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5952-4_95
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