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Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors: Their Therapeutic Potential in Anxiety

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Behavioral Neurobiology of Anxiety and Its Treatment

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences ((CTBN,volume 2))

Abstract

Psychiatric and neurological disorders are linked to changes in synaptic excitatory processes with a key role for glutamate, that is, the most abundant excitatory amino-acid. Molecular cloning of the metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptors has led to the identification of eight mGlu receptors, which, in contrast to ligand-gated ion channels (responsible for fast excitatory transmission), modulate and fine-tune the efficacy of synaptic transmission. mGlu receptors are G protein-coupled and constitute a new group of “drugable” targets for the treatment of various CNS disorders. The recent discovery of small molecules that selectively bind to receptors of Groups I (mGlu1 and mGlu5) and II (mGlu2 and mGlu3) allowed significant advances in our understanding of the roles of these receptors in brain function and dysfunction including anxiety. Although investigation of the role of the Group III (mGlu4, 6, 7, and 8) receptors is less advanced, the generation of genetically manipulated animals and recent advances in the identification of subtype-selective compounds have revealed some first insights into the therapeutic potential of this group of receptors.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Abstract from 5th International Meeting on Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNS Disease Biology Area, pRED, Building 74/3W308, Basel, CH-4070, Switzerland

    Will Spooren

  2. CNS-Neurosciences, Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development, Beerse, Belgium

    Anne Lesage, Hilde Lavreysen & Thomas Steckler

  3. Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research Basel, Neuroscience Discovery, Basel, Switzerland

    Fabrizio Gasparini

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  1. Will Spooren
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  2. Anne Lesage
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  3. Hilde Lavreysen
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  4. Fabrizio Gasparini
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  5. Thomas Steckler
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Correspondence to Will Spooren .

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  1. Dept. Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, Gilman Drive 9500, La Jolla, 92093-0985, USA

    Murray B. Stein

  2. Research & Development, CNS - Affective Spectrum, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical, Turnhoutseweg 30, Beerse, 2340, Belgium

    Thomas Steckler

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Spooren, W., Lesage, A., Lavreysen, H., Gasparini, F., Steckler, T. (2010). Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors: Their Therapeutic Potential in Anxiety. In: Stein, M., Steckler, T. (eds) Behavioral Neurobiology of Anxiety and Its Treatment. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2010_36

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