Focus on the role of glutamate in the pathology of the peripheral nervous system

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CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets. 2008 Oct;7(4):348-60.

Focus on the role of glutamate in the pathology of the peripheral

nervous system.

Carozzi V, Marmiroli P, Cavaletti G.

Department of Neurosciences e Biomedical Technologies, University of

Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy.

The role of Glutamate (Glu), one of the major excitatory

neurotransmitters in the central nervous system, has been thoroughly

investigated in animal models and in humans in several physiologic

events, such as brain development and synaptic plasticity, but also

in acute and chronic neurologic diseases and psychiatric disorders.

Recently, it has been demonstrated that Glu is important for sensory

input transduction, particularly along the nociceptive pathway. Glu

involvement in peripheral neuropathies has also been suggested on the

basis of experimental studies in animals, thus widening the spectrum

of possible sites of action of this neurotransmitter from the central

to the peripheral nervous system.

This rather unexpected observation may have important therapeutic

implications, provided that a complete characterization of the

glutamatergic system in the peripheral nervous system is achieved and

its changes under the different pathological conditions are

investigated. This review will focus on the most recent advances in

the research into the role of Glu and the glutamatergic system in the

pathology of the peripheral nervous system.