title: Glutamate receptors and Parkinson's disease: opportunities for intervention.
abstract: Parkinson's disease is a debilitating neurodegenerative movement disorder that is the result of a degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. The resulting loss of striatal dopaminergic tone is believed to underlie a series of changes in the circuitry of the basal ganglia that ultimately lead to severe motor disturbances due to excessive basal ganglia outflow. Glutamate plays a central role in the disruption of normal basal ganglia function, and it has been hypothesised that agents acting to restore normal glutamatergic function may provide therapeutic interventions that bypass the severe motor side effects associated with current dopamine replacement strategies. Analysis of the effects of glutamate receptor ligands in the basal ganglia circuit suggests that both ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors could have antiparkinsonian actions. In particular, NMDA receptor antagonists that selectively target the NR2B subunit and antagonists of the metabotropic glutamate receptor mGluR5 appear to hold promise and deserve future attention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, Pennsylvania 19486-0004, USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Marino
authors.forename: Ornella
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Valenti
authors.forename: P Jeffrey
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Conn
mesh_terms: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate