Excitotoxins - The ultimate Brainslayer JoAnn Guest Jul 28, 2005 15:11 PDTby James South MAGlutamic acid (also called "glutamate") is the chief excitatoryneurotransmitter in the human and mammalian brain (1-3). Glutamateneurons make up an extensive network throughout the cortex, hippocampus,striatum, thalamus, hypothalamus, cerebellum, and visual/auditory system(4).As a consequence, glutamate neurotransmission is essential for cognition, memory, movement, and sensation (especially taste, sight,hearing) (3).Glutamate and its biochemical "cousin," aspartic acid or aspartate, arethe two most plentiful amino acids in the brain (5). Aspartate is also amajor excitatory neurotransmitter and aspartate can activate neurons inplace of glutamate (1,2).Glutamate and aspartate can be synthesized by cells from each other, andglutamate can be made from various other amino acids, as well. (5)Glutamate and aspartate are both common in foods also.Wheat gluten is 43% glutamate,the milk protein casein is 23% glutamate,and gelatin protein is 12% glutamate.One of the commonest food additives in the developed world is MSG(monosodium glutamate), a flavor enhancer. By 1972 576 million pounds of MSG were added to foods yearly, and MSG use has doubled every decadesince 1948 (2).Aspartic acid is one half of the now ubiquitous sweetener aspartame(NutraSweet®), which is the basis of diet desserts, low-calorie drinks,chewing gum, etc. (2,6) Thus, even a superficial look atglutamate/aspartate in brain chemistry, foods, and food additivetechnology indicates a major role for them in our lives.Without normal glutamate/aspartate neurotransmission, we would be deaf and blind mental and behavioral vegetables. Yet ironically glutamate andaspartate are the two major excitotoxins out of 70 so far discovered(1-3,6).Excitotoxins are biochemical substances (usually amino acids, amino acidanalogs, or amino acid derivatives) that can react with specializedneuronal receptors - glutamate receptors - in the brain or spinal cordin such a way as to cause injury or death to a wide variety of neurons.A broad range of chronic neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer'sdisease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's chorea, stroke(multi-infarct) dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and AIDSdementia are now believed to be caused, at least in part, by theexcitotoxic action of glutamate/aspartate (1-3,7-10).Even the typical memory loss, confusion, and mild intellectualdeterioration that frequently occurs in late middle age/old age may becaused by glutamate/aspartate excitotoxity (2,6).Acute diseases and medical conditions such as stroke brain damage,ischemic (reduced blood flow) brain damage, alcohol withdrawal syndrome,
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