The discovery of glutamate (Glu) is more than 100 years old, dating from when Ikeda isolated this natural amino acid from seaweed broth. Discoveries of neurotransmitter function, the role of Glu as a neurotransmitter, and Glu receptors and receptor types and functions followed over the subsequent century. To date, it is well established that Glu is the major neurotransmitter in the mammalian br...

Application of L-glutamate (L-glu) to particular neurons (G-H cells) in the esophageal ganglia of Onchidium produced hyperpolarization associated with an increase in K+ permeability. The reversal potential (Erev) for this response, was -60 mV. The ED50, an indicator of affinity between L-glu and its receptive site, was 5.3 mM, and the Hill coefficient n, an indicator of cooperativity, was 2. Ot...

Photochemical release (uncaging) of bioactive messengers with three-dimensional spatial resolution in light-scattering media would be greatly facilitated if the photolysis could be powered by pairs of IR photons rather than the customary single UV photons. The quadratic dependence on light intensity would confine the photolysis to the focus point of the laser, and the longer wavelengths would b...

Introducing various pendant functional groups and building blocks of interest to polypeptides in a highly efficient, controlled manner is crucial to access polypeptide materials with desired structures and functions. In this study, we synthesized γ-(4-vinylbenzyl)-(L)-glutamate N-carboxyanhydride (VB-Glu-NCA), which was readily obtained and purified in large quantity. VB-Glu-NCA monomer was sub...

To test the hypothesis that clozapine-induced reduction of glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1) expression is mediated by astrocytes, we studied the effects of clozapine on Glu transporters and Glu uptake in primary astrocyte cultures of the cerebral cortex. Astrocyte cultures treated for 48 h with clozapine exhibited a reduction in GLT-1 levels of about 50%, whereas glutamate-aspartate transporter ...

Chloride-transporting membrane proteins of the CLC family appear in two distinct mechanistic flavors: H(+)-gated Cl(-) channels and Cl(-)/H(+) antiporters. Transmembrane H(+) movement is an essential feature of both types of CLC. X-ray crystal structures of CLC antiporters show the Cl(-) ion pathway through these proteins, but the H(+) pathway is known only inferentially by two conserved glutam...

Glutamate produces a hyperpolarizing postsynaptic potential in ON bipolar cells by binding to the metabotropic receptor mGluR6 and subsequently closing a cation-selective channel. It has been proposed that Ca(2+) influx through the cation channel triggers a depression of the synaptic potential. Here we report that this Ca(2+)-mediated depression requires activation of calcineurin, a Ca(2+)/calm...

Glutamate (Glu) is a crucial fundamental excitatory neurotransmitter released through vesicular exocytosis in the central nervous system. Hence, quantitative measurements of intravesicular Glu and transient exocytotic release contents directly from individual living neurons are highly desired for understanding mechanisms (full or sub-quantal release?) synaptic transmission plasticity. However, ...

Objective(s): Propofol (2, 6-diisopropylphenol) is an intravenous anesthetic that is commonly used for the general anesthesia. It is well known that the spinal cord is one of the working targets of general anesthesia including propofol. However, there is a lack of investigation of the effects of propofol on spinal dorsal horn which is important for the sensory transmission of nociceptive signal...

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPTI) catalyzes the conversion of long chain fatty acyl-CoAs to acylcarnitines in the presence of l-carnitine. To determine the role of the conserved glutamate residue, Glu-603, on catalysis and malonyl-CoA sensitivity, we separately changed the residue to alanine, histidine, glutamine, and aspartate. Substitution of Glu-603 with alanine or histidine resulted i...