Glutamate in peripheral organs: Biology and pharmacology

Glutamate is a versatile molecule existing in both the central nervous system and peripheral organs. Previous studies have mainly focussed on the biological effect of glutamate in the brain. Recently, abundant evidence has demonstrated that glutamate also participates in the regulation of physiopathological functions in peripheral tissues, including the lung, kidney, liver, heart, stomach and immune system, where the glutamate/glutamate receptor/glutamate transporter system plays an important role in the pathogenesis of certain diseases, such as myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury and acute gastric mucosa injury. All these findings provide new insight into the biology and pharmacology of glutamate and suggest a potential therapeutic role of glutamate in non-neurological diseases.