title: Neurons eat glutamate to stay alive.
abstract: Neurons are thought to primarily rely on glucose to fuel mitochondrial metabolism. In this issue, Divakaruni et al. (2017.J. Cell Biol.https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201612067) show that neurons are also happy to use glutamate. When neurons use this neurotransmitter, its concentration drops, thus protecting against glutamate-induced excitotoxic stress.
authors.affiliation: VIB Center for Cancer Biology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.|Department of Oncology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sarah-Maria
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Fendt
authors.affiliation: VIB Center for Brain and Disease Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium patrik.verstreken@kuleuven.vib.be.|Department of Neurosciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5073-5393
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Verstreken
mesh_terms: D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents; D018698:Glutamic Acid