Glutamate transport inhibitors as targets for treating psychosis

Agents targeting the dopamine system have been the mainstay of antipsychotic drug therapy for decades. Recent attention has focused on the role of glutamate in schizophrenia and many components of the glutamate synapse represent evolving molecular targets. Among the proteins regulating glutamate availability in the synapse, the excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) and in particular EAAT3, a neuronal subtype expressed throughout the central nervous system, might offer an approach to manipulating the glutamate synapse as a strategy for antipsychotic drug development.

Section editors:David Sibley – National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USAC. Anthony Altar – Psychiatric Genomics, Gaithersburg, USATheresa Branchek – Lundbeck Research, Paramus, USA