Excitotoxic

Neuronal excitotoxicity AEA levels are elevated in the hippocampus of mice treated with kainic acid. 2-AG levels are elevated in rats treated with pilocarpine These are two animal models of epileptic seizures, where the endocannabinoids play an anti-convulsant and protective function Inhibitors of cellular re-uptake... 

Excitotoxicity is the over-activity of the glutamatergic system responsible for the large number of dead neurons observed after ischemia (stroke) or epileptic seizures. This neuronal death is due to an overexcitation of the neurons and the massive Ca2+ entry... 

Findings obtained from experimental studies suggest that induction of iNOS mediates inflammatory or ischemic brain damage and that excessively activated nNOS under excitotoxic or ischemic conditions produces NO that is toxic to surrounding neurons. Selective inhibition of iNOS or nNOS may be neuroprotec-tive. This is also the case in glaucoma and diabetic... 

Lowenstein, D.H., Chan, P.H., Miles, M.F. (1991). The stress protein response in cultured neurons Characterization and evidence for a protective role in excitotoxicity. Neuron 7, 1053-1060. 

Other Links Between Chemokines and Excitotoxic Injury Glutamate Release... 

Besides the clear role for chemokines in modulating recruitment of cells into the CNS in HIV infection, and the potential role for chemokines to directly modulate neuronal signaling, recent evidence has suggested a link between CNS chemokine expression and enhancement of excitotoxic injury through enhancement of glutamate... 

Lynch DR, Guttmann RP (2002) Excitotoxicity perspectives based on N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subtypes. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 300(3) 717-723 Magnuson DS, Knudsen BE, Geiger JD, Brownstone RM, Nath A (1995) Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 tat activates non-N-methyl-D-aspartate excitatory amino acid receptors and causes neurotoxicity. Ann Neurol 37(3) 373-380 Mamdouh Z, Chen X, Kerini LM, Maxfield FR, Muller WA (2003) Targeted recycling of PECAM from endothelial surface-connected compartments during diapedesis. Nature 421(6924) 748-753... 

Chapman GA, Moores K, Harrison D, Campbell CA, Stewart BR, Strijbos PJ (2000) Fractalkine cleavage from neuronal membranes represents an acute event in the inflammatory response to excitotoxic brain damage. J Neurosci 20 RC87... 

HIV-infected glia secrete inflammatory factors that can indirectly contribute to excitotoxicity (Giulian et al. 1996). The HIV envelope protein induces the secretion... 

HIV proteins can also disrupt ion homeostasis in astrocytes, which compromises neuronal function (Pulliam et al. 1993 Benos et al. 1994a, b Holden et al. 1999). Intact HIV-1 virions or gpl20 also markedly inhibit glutamate uptake by astrocytes and cause reductions in excitatory amino acid transporter-2 (EAAT2) mRNA and protein levels (Wang et al. 2003). The inability of astrocytes to buffer extracellular glutamate is likely to decrease the excitotoxic threshold of bystander neurons. 

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