谷氨酸循环障碍与抑郁症

抑郁症是当今社会较多发的严重影响人类生活质量的疾病,迄今为止,抑郁症病因与发病机制还不完全明确,在过去的很多年,单胺类神经递质假说一直处在相对重要的位置,然而,近年越来越多的临床证据表明,单胺类递质假说并不能完全解释抑郁症的发病机制与其所起到的治疗作用,是否还有另一种机制参与其中呢？近期大量实验研究表明谷氨酸能系统在抑郁症的发病及治疗中扮演了重要的角色,本文就谷氨酸能系统在抑郁症的发病及治疗中发挥的疗效作用综述如下。

Roles of Glutamate System Balance in Anti-Depression

Depression, a common disorder in modern society, does harm to human living standard. Currently available antidepressants are known to affect the monoaminergic（e.g.,serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine） systems in the brain. Thus far, the pathogeny of depression is not certain. Recently a large number of researches show that glutamate and its receptors play an important role in the pathogenesis of depression. More and more evidence suggests that the glutamatergic neurotransmission via the excitatory amino acid glutamate also plays an important role in the neurobiology and treatment of this disease. Furthermore, a number of preclinical studies demonstrated that the agents which act at glutamate receptors such as NMDA receptors, α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid（AMPA） receptors and metabotropic glutamate receptors（m Glu Rs） might have antidepressant-like activities in animal models of depression. In this article, the author reviews the role of glutamate in the neuron-glia communication induced by potential an- tidepressants.