Glutamate-glutamine Cycle - Potential Drug Targets

Potential Drug Targets

In the treatment of epilepsy, drugs targeting both GABA transporters and the GABA metabolizing enzyme GABA-transaminase (vigabatrin) have been marketed, providing proof of principle for the neurotransmitter cycling systems as pharmacological targets. However, with regard to glutamate transport and metabolism no such drugs have been developed This is because glutamatergic synapses are abundant and the neurotransmitter glutamate is an important metabolite in metabolism, making interference capable of adverse effects. So far, most of the drug development directed at the glutamatergic system seems to have been focused on ionotropic glutamate receptors as pharmacological targets, although G-protein coupled receptors have been attracting increased attention over the years.