The role of glutamate and its receptors in autism and the use of glutamate receptor antagonists in treatment

• Published in: Journal of Neural Transmission Vol. 121; no. 8; pp. 891 - 905
• Main Author: Rojas, Donald C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.08.2014; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Autistic Disorder - drug therapy; Autistic Disorder - genetics; Autistic Disorder - metabolism; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists - therapeutic use; Glutamic Acid - metabolism; Humans; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neurology; Neurosciences; Psychiatry; Psychiatry and Preclinical Psychiatric Studies - Review article; Psychotropic Drugs - therapeutic use; Receptors, Glutamate - metabolism; Synaptic Transmission; Autism; Proton spectroscopy; Serum glutamate; AMPA; Kainate; NMDA; mGluR
• ISSN: 0300-9564; 1435-1463
• DOI: 10.1007/s00702-014-1216-0

Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and may be a key neurotransmitter involved in autism. Literature pertaining to glutamate and autism or related disorders (e.g., Fragile X syndrome) is reviewed in this article. Interest in glutamatergic dysfunction in autism is high due to increasing convergent evidence implicating the system in the disorder from peripheral biomarkers, neuroimaging, protein expression, genetics and animal models. Currently, there are no pharmaceutical interventions approved for autism that address glutamate deficits in the disorder. New treatments related to glutamatergic neurotransmission, however, are emerging. In addition, older glutamate-modulating medications with approved indications for use in other disorders are being investigated for re-tasking as treatments for autism. This review presents evidence in support of glutamate abnormalities in autism and the potential for translation into new treatments for the disorder.