Glutamate (neurotransmitter)

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Glutamate (known as glutamic acid in its protonated form) is the chief excitatory neurotransmitter (a chemical that nerve cells use to send signals to other cells). Glutamate is by a wide margin the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in the vertebrate nervous system. It is used by every major excitatory function in the vertebrate brain, estimated to account for 90% of the synaptic connections in the human brain. It also serves as the primary neurotransmitter for some localized brain regions, such as cerebellum granule cells. Biochemical receptors for glutamate fall into two major classes, known as ionotropic glutamate receptors and metabotropic glutamate receptors. The ionotropic glutamate receptors consist of AMPA receptors, NMDA receptors, and kainate receptors. The metabotropic glutamate receptors consist of eight different individual receptors, being split into group I, group II, and group III. Many synapses use multiple types of glutamate receptors. AMPA receptors are ionotropic...

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