title: The involvement of glutamate in the pathophysiology of depression.
abstract: In spite of more than 40 years of thorough studies, conventional antidepressants still have many limitations that hinder the effective treatment of depression. It seems that a breakthrough in the therapy of depression will require going beyond a monoamine-based theory of depression. Converging lines of evidence indicate that the glutamatergic system might be a promising target for a novel antidepressant therapy. Both ionotropic glutamate receptor ligands (functional NMDA receptor antagonists and AMPA receptor potentiators) and compounds acting at metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs; group I mGluR antagonists, group II antagonists and group III agonists) produce antidepressant-like activity in several preclinical and some clinical studies. In this review, current knowledge and crucial hypotheses concerning the role of glutamate in the pathophysiology of depression are discussed.
authors: Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland. nfpaluch@cyf-kr.edu.pl
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Palucha
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Pilc
mesh_terms: D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000502:physiology; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D018094:Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D018094:Receptors, Metabotropic Glutamate; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate