Roles of Glutamate, Nitric Oxide, Oxidative Stress, and Apoptosis in the Neurotoxicity of Methamphetamine
Year: 2002
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Oxygen and nitric oxide (NO) are essential elements for normal life. Indeed, the reduction of molecular oxygen represents one of the most important generators of energy for aerobic organisms. This occurs through the four-election reduction of dioxygen to yield water. Nevertheless, these substances can also participate in deleterious reactions that negatively impact lipid, protein, and nucleic acid. Thus, normal physiological function depends on a balance between these potentially toxic substances and the scavenging systems that aerobic organisms have developed to counteract their deleterious effects. Both exogenous and endogenous causes can tilt that balance. In the present chapter, I will elaborate on the thesis that the neurodegenerative effects of methamphetamine are due to reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction in monoaminergic systems in the brain. I will also discuss the possible role of glutamate and of NO in the cascade that leads to methamphetamine (METH)-induced neuro-toxicity. Moreover, this chapter will review briefly recent data that provide conclusive evidence that METH can also cause cell death in various regions of the brain.
Source: Humana Press eBooks
Author: Jean Lud Cadet
Language: English
Subfield: Neurology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W93333689