Journal
ALCOHOLISM-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
Volume 36, Issue 7, Pages 1117-1125Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2011.01722.x
Keywords
Adenosine; Glutamate; Alcoholism; Sleep; Signaling; Pharmacology
Categories
Funding
- Samuel Johnson Foundation for Genomics
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) [R01 AA018779, P20 AA017830, AA020334, AA017472, R01 AA019458, F32 AA019902, R01 NS037585, R01 DA025967]
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Recent studies have demonstrated that the function of glia is not restricted to the support of neuronal function. Especially, astrocytes are essential for neuronal activity in the brain. Astrocytes actively participate in synapse formation and brain information processing by releasing or uptaking gliotransmitters such as glutamate, d-serine, adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP), and adenosine. In the central nervous system, adenosine plays an important role in regulating neuronal activity as well as in controlling other neurotransmitter systems such as GABA, glutamate, and dopamine. Ethanol (EtOH) increases extracellular adenosine levels, which regulates the ataxic and hypnotic/sedative (somnogenic) effects of EtOH. Adenosine signaling is also involved in the homeostasis of major inhibitory/excitatory neurotransmission (i.e., GABA or glutamate) through neuronglial interactions, which regulates the effect of EtOH and sleep. Adenosine transporters or astrocytic SNARE-mediated transmitter release regulates extracellular or synaptic adenosine levels. Adenosine then exerts its function through several adenosine receptors and regulates glutamate levels in the brain. This review presents novel findings on how neuronglial interactions, particularly adenosinergic signaling and glutamate uptake activity involving glutamate transporter 1 (GLT1), are implicated in alcoholism and sleep disorders.
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