Glutamate

[kim]

New study

 

There have been many headlines lately regarding Golf War syndrome. Looks like a lot of new (previously buried) info is coming out.

I don't know if there is any relationship what so ever, but I was wondering why the Dept of defense was behind this study?

Also, wondering what substances could alter this pathway.

 

 

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/kho...m.436e64ba.html

 

Rice researchers say they've discovered clue to roots of epilepsy, autism

 

05:15 PM CST on Monday, December 8, 2008

 

 

Rice doctoral student Eric Howlett was studying the peripheral nerves of the Drosophila, aka the fruit fly, when he made an unexpected discovery. Howlett found a connection between glutamate -- an amino acid and neurotransmitter in much of the food we eat -- and an enzyme called P13K that, Howlett found, regulates the activity of neurons.

[kim]

from same article

 

Howlett said mGluRs had already been targeted in possible treatments for schizophrenia, epilepsy and other “excitability” diseases, so it’s not a stretch to think his research could lead to even more strategies in treating neurological ailments.

[kim]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18928402?dopt=Abstract

 

Akt/GSK3 Signaling in the Action of Psychotropic Drugs

 

Psychotropic drugs acting on monoamine neurotransmission are major pharmacological treatments for neuropsychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder,Tourette syndrome, ADHD, and Alzheimer disease.

behavioral approaches in normal and/or genetically modified mice provide converging evidence for an involvement of the signaling molecules Akt and glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3)

and

 

multifunctional scaffolding protein beta-arrestin 2

 

 

 

I believe there is a relationship btwn Akt and P13K that was refered to in previous post. I wanted to leave this here, so I could find it again as I'm working on this. Tumor and vessel involvement are pathways that I'm personaly interested in. Also, glycogen systhesis.

 

edit....Need to leave this here too

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1847373...ogdbfrom=pubmed

 

PTEN/PI3K/AKT constitutes an important pathway regulating the signaling of multiple biological processes such as apoptosis, metabolism, cell proliferation and cell growth. PTEN is a dual protein/lipid phosphatase which main substrate is the phosphatidyl-inositol,3,4,5 triphosphate (PIP3), the product of PI3K.

[ilovedogs]

So, Kim, are they saying that you need glutamine or that you have too much glutamine? I am no good at reading these science type articles!!! I read it and can't really grasp what they are saying. The reason I ask is b/c my son's naturopath has him on L-glutamine for anxiety and b/c it's apparently good for the lining of the intestines, etc. Anyway, if you learned anything in particular here would you mind helping us non-science folks out?

 

Bonnie

[kim]

Howlett and his colleagues learned that negative feedback mediated by PI3K regulates the excitability of neurons, an issue in a number of ailments. They also found that a mutation in a glutamate receptor gene common to both the fruit fly and humans has the ability to disrupt that regulatory mechanism.

Howlett discovered that mutating the fruit fly's gene increased the excitability of the neuron by preventing PI3K from doing its job.

 

 

Howlett’s breakthrough was identifying the negative feedback loop that acts to maintain neuronal excitability at normal levels. “What we found was that glutamate, which is released due to neuronal activity, feeds back onto metabotropic glutamate receptors on the same neurons that released it in the first place. This leads to the activation of PI3K and ultimately to the dampening of the amount of glutamate that is released.” Without that regulation, he said, things inside the cell can go terribly wrong."

 

 

 

Bonnie,

 

From the statements quoted above, I think the more important issue is whether or not you have a mutation which is preventing P13K from working. It certainly makes sense to me that you might want to avoid glutamate stimulating supplements if you had the suspected mutation, however glutamate is converted to GABA which is inhibitory, so these "loops" functioning properly is what's essential. Sorry not to be able to provide anything more helpful.

[kim]

remove double post