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21st century excitatory amino acid research: A Q & A with Jeff Watkins and Dick Evans

21st century excitatory amino acid research: A Q & A with Jeff Watkins and Dick Evans

Authors :
R.H. Evans
David Ramos-Vicente
Ada Rodríguez-Campuzano
Jack R. Mellor
Yu Tian Wang
Sam A. Booker
David J. A. Wyllie
Antonio Rodríguez-Moreno
Elek Molnár
Lonnie P. Wollmuth
Jeffrey C. Watkins
Arturo Ortega
Min Zhuo
Li Niu
Àlex Bayés
Mark L. Mayer
Bruno G. Frenguelli
Alasdair J. Gibb
Yuriy Pankratov
Lu-Yang Wang
Angela M. Mabb
Source :
NEUROPHARMACOLOGY, r-IIB SANT PAU. Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica del Instituto de Investigación Biomédica Sant Pau, instname
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, 2021.

Abstract

In 1981 Jeff Watkins and Dick Evans wrote what was to become a seminal review on excitatory amino acids (EAAs) and their receptors (Watkins and Evans, 1981). Bringing together various lines of evidence dating back over several decades on: the distribution in the nervous system of putative amino acid neurotransmitters; enzymes involved in their production and metabolism; the uptake and release of amino acids; binding of EAAs to membranes; the pharmacological action of endogenous excitatory amino acids and their synthetic analogues, and notably the actions of antagonists for the excitations caused by both nerve stimulation and exogenous agonists, often using pharmacological tools developed by Jeff and his colleagues, they provided a compelling account for EAAs, especially l -glutamate, as a bona fide neurotransmitter in the nervous system. The rest, as they say, is history, but far from being consigned to history, EAA research is in rude health well into the 21st Century as this series of Special Issues of Neuropharmacology exemplifies. With EAAs and their receptors flourishing across a wide range of disciplines and clinical conditions, we enter into a dialogue with two of the most prominent and influential figures in the early days of EAA research: Jeff Watkins and Dick Evans.

Details

ISSN :
00283908
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
NEUROPHARMACOLOGY, r-IIB SANT PAU. Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica del Instituto de Investigación Biomédica Sant Pau, instname
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....17e20081a690b6bee5806285ecd11d02