Abstracts of the International Symposium Excitatory Amino Acids "Ten Years Later" held in Manaus, Brazil on November 1922, 1998

Article type: Abstract

Authors: Cavalheiro, Esper A. | Schoepp, Darryle | Turski, Lechoslaw

Affiliations: Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Escola Paulista de Medicina, R. Botucatu 862, CEP-04023-900 Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil | Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly & Co., Indianapolis, IN 46285, USA | Eisai London Research Laboratories, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK

Note: [] Corresponding author: L. Turski, Eisai London Research Laboratory, Bernard Katz Building, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK. Tel.: + 44 171 388 4746; Fax; + 44 171 413 1121; E-mail: lturski@elrl.co.uk

Abstract: The past decade has led to many significant advances in the understanding of the function of excitatory amino acids in synaptic transmission. The cloning of the ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptor families has produced new strategies for the pharmacological modulation of glutamate transmission. The engineering of transgenic animals with modified expression of receptor proteins has created new insights into the function, dysfunction and possible pathology causally related to glutamate receptors. Advances in the pharmacology of glutamate receptors has lead to clinical research addressing multiple therapeutic applications of drugs that act on excitatory amino acid systems. A number of NMDA receptor antagonists have now been studied in humans. AMPA/kainate and metabotropic receptor active compounds have left the preclinical realm of research and have moved towards or are in the clinic. Excitatory amino acid research has brought new therapeutic concepts and increased immensely our understanding of how the brain works. The pharmaceutical industry has explored the emerging concepts and therapy related principles in the clinic. Research on excitatory amino acids in the last ten years has produced a foundation for future therapeutic strategies that are highly innovative, and now hold considerable promise to deliver novel pharmaceuticals for both neurological and psychiatric disorders. November 1998, after a long ten year break, marks the second symposium on "Excitatory Amino Acids - Manaus '98". The conference is organized under the auspices of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the Federation of Brazilian Societies of Experimental Biology and the Brazilian League Against Epilepsy. The selection of the venue has a symbolic characteristic and addresses the research in South America and developing countries. The meeting addresses today's emerging questions and the new avenues which glutamate research is taking in to the future from the perspectives of molecular biology, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and medicine. It is our goal that scientists from a variety of disciplines will benefit from the information provided.

Keywords: glutamate, glutamate receptors, glutamate antagonists, neurodegenerative disorders, psychiatric disorders, clinical trials

Journal: Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, vol. 13, no. 1-2, pp. 85-115, 1998