title: Pharmacology and functions of metabotropic glutamate receptors.
abstract: In the mid to late 1980s, studies were published that provided the first evidence for the existence of glutamate receptors that are not ligand-gated cation channels but are coupled to effector systems through GTP-binding proteins. Since those initial reports, tremendous progress has been made in characterizing these metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), including cloning and characterization of cDNA that encodes a family of eight mGluR subtypes, several of which have multiple splice variants. Also, tremendous progress has been made in developing new highly selective mGluR agonists and antagonists and toward determining the physiologic roles of the mGluRs in mammalian brain. These findings have exciting implications for drug development and suggest that the mGluRs provide a novel target for development of therepeutic agents that could have a significant impact on neuropharmacology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. pconn@emory.edu
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Conn
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Pin
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000378:metabolism; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D018094:Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate / Q000819:agonists / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D015290:Second Messenger Systems / Q000502:physiology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D014161:Transduction, Genetic
chemical_list: D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D007473:Ion Channels; D018094:Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins