title: Chronic methionine sulfoximine administration reduces synaptosomal aspartate and glutamate in rat striatum.
abstract: Methionine sulfoxime (MS) is an inhibitor of glutamine synthetase, an astroglial enzyme believed to be involved in the maintenance of glutamine, a major precursor for neurotransmitter pools of the excitatory amino acids aspartate and glutamate in striatal afferent axon terminals. MS was infused for 7 days (24 micrograms/day) into the lateral cerebral ventricle of rats. On the side of MS infusion, there was a decrease of striatal synaptosomal aspartate (61%), glutamine (63%), and glutamate (48%), while taurine and gamma-aminobutyrate were unaltered when compared to vehicle-treated rats. The results indicate that chronic MS infusion is an effective means by which neurotransmitter aspartate and glutamate levels can be selectively reduced in the striatum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Somers
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Beckstead
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005971:Glutamates / Q000378:metabolism*; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D008297:Male; D008717:Methionine Sulfoximine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013574:Synaptosomes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D005971:Glutamates; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents; D008717:Methionine Sulfoximine; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid