The amino acids glutamate (Glu) and glycine (Gly) trigger large, rapid rises in cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration and a concomitant rise in membrane potential (depolarization) in plants. The possibility that plant homologs of neuronal ionotropic glutamate receptors mediate these neuron-like ionic responses was tested in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings using a combination of Ca(2+) mea...

Modafinil is marketed in the United States for the treatment of narcolepsy and daytime somnolence due to shift-work or sleep apnea. Investigations of this drug in the treatment of cocaine and nicotine dependence in addition to disorders of executive function are also underway. Modafinil has been known to increase glutamate levels in rat brain models. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1HMR...

Abbreviations: AMPA: α-amino-hydroxy-5-methyl-isoxazole4-propionate; ATP: Adenosine Triphosphate; BDNF: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; CNS: Central Nervous System; EAAT: Excitatory Amino-Acid Transporter; FGF: Fibroblast Growth Factor; GDNF: Glial-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; GLAST: Glutamate Aspartate Transporter; GLT-1: Glutamate Transporter-1; NO: Nitric Oxide; IL3: Interleukin-3; IL-6: ...

BACKGROUND L-Glutamate (Glu) is a major amino acid in milk and postweaning diets for mammals (including pigs and human infants). However, effects of Glu on intestinal mucosal barrier and antioxidative functions are unknown. OBJECTIVE This study tested the hypothesis that Glu may enhance the barrier function of intestinal porcine epithelial cell line 1 (IPEC-1) cells by upregulating the expres...

The apparent Michaelis constant, K(M), for glutamate oxidase (GluOx) immobilised on Pt electrodes increased systematically with enzyme loading. The effect was due, at least in part, to electrostatic repulsion between neighbouring oxidase molecules and the anionic substrate, glutamate (Glu). This understanding has allowed us to increase the Glu sensitivity of GluOx-based amperometric biosensors ...

Proton pathways in green fluorescent protein (GFP) are more extended than previously reported. In the x-ray data of wild-type GFP, a two-step exit pathway exists from the active site to the protein surface, controlled by a threonine switch. A proton entry pathway begins at a glutamate-lysine cluster around Glu-5, and extends all the way to the buried Glu-222 near the active site. This structura...

Extracellular accumulation of toxic concentrations of glutamate (Glu) is a hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases, often accompanied by hypoxia and impaired metabolism of this neuromediator. To address the question whether the multifunctional neuroprotective action of erythropoietin (EPO) extends to the regulation of extracellular Glu-level and is age-related, young and culture-aged rat as...

We have synthesized a biologically inert, photosensitive derivative of the major excitatory amino acid, L-glutamate (which we call MDNI-glu) that makes more efficient use of incident light than all other caged glutamates. Laser flash photolysis of MDNI-glu in acutely isolated hippocampal brain slices evoked a rapid increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration in astrocytes.

ATP elicits Ca transients in cultured cerebellar granule neurons acting through specific ionotropic (P2X) and metabotropic (P2Y) purinergic receptors. In these neurons, application of L-Glutamate (L-Glu) immediately before ATP induced a prolonged reduction of ATP-mediated responses that remains at least 5 minutes after L-Glu wash out. alpha-amino-3-hydro-5-methyl-4-isoxazolpropionic acid (AMPA)...

The effect of lesions induced by bilateral intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of quinolinate (250 nmol of QUIN/ventricle), a selective N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor agonist, on [3H]glutamate ([3H]Glu) binding to the main types of both ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors (iGluR and mGluR) was investigated in synaptic membrane preparations from the hippocampi of 50-day-...