Widespread Brain Receptor Hides Surprising Mechanism of Action - Neuroscience News

One of the most important molecules in the brain doesn't work quite the way scientists thought it did, according to new work by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Carnegie Mellon University. The results, published April 20 in Nature, may aid the development of a new generation of more effective neurological and psychiatric therapies with fewer side effects. The new research takes a close look at glutamate, the most prevalent neurotransmitter in the brain. Glutamate binds to receptors on brain cells, which opens a channel into the cell, allowing ions to pass through to propagate an electrical signal. "The way the brain works is through communication between neurons, and these are the main receptors which allow this communication," says Alexander Sobolevsky, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Columbia and senior author on the paper.