Glutamate receptor
Glutamate receptors are synaptic and non synaptic receptors located primarily on the membranes of neuronal and glial cells. Glutamate (the conjugate base of glutamic acid) is abundant in the human body, but particularly in the nervous system and especially prominent in the human brain where it is the body's most prominent neurotransmitter, the brain's main excitatory neurotransmitter, and also the precursor for GABA, the brain's main inhibitory neurotransmitter. Glutamate receptors are responsible for the glutamate-mediated postsynaptic excitation of neural cells, and are important for neural communication, memory formation, learning, and regulation.
Animal model of schizophrenia
Glutamate is the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in vertebrate nervous systems. Evidence for the involvement of glutamate in schizophrenia includes analogous symptoms which are produced by glutamate NMDA receptor antagonists such as phencyclidine (PCP) and ketamine. PCP is a non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist which produces hallucinations and delusions in normal subjects. In rat models, disturbed cognition, deficits in social interaction, locomotor anomalies, and prepulse inhibition deficits are seen on acute administration of PCP. Evidence that persistent PCP use and abuse in humans results in lasting deficits beyond the period of treatment has led to the suggestion that this regime in rodents may be a more accurate model of schizophrenia than acute administration. A number of protocols for chronic PCP animal models have been developed, with different effects. The effects of some, but not all protocols can be reversed by treatment with antipsychotics. In a primate model, PCP was found to induce cognitive impairments which were reversed with clozapine.