Glutamate (neurotransmitter)
In neuroscience, glutamate refers to the anion of glutamic acid in its role as a neurotransmitter: a chemical that nerve cells use to send signals to other cells. It 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, accounting in total for well over 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.
Sialic acid
It has been demonstrated that the human brain has more sialic acid than the brains of other mammals (2 – 4 times more). Neural membranes have 20 times more sialic acid than other cellular membranes. It is believed that sialic acid has a decisive role in enabling neurotransmission between neurons. The effects of sialic acid supplementation on learning and memory behaviour has been studied in rodents, as well as in piglets (whose brain structure and function more closely resemble those of humans). A diet rich in sialic acid was given to newborn piglets for five weeks. Then learning and memory were evaluated using a visual cue in a maze. A relationship between dietary sialic acid supplementation and cognitive function was seen: the piglets that had been fed high doses of sialic acid learned more quickly and made fewer mistakes. This suggests that sialic acid has an influence upon brain development and learning.