Abstract
The past decade has led to many significant advances in the understanding of the function of excitatory amino acids in synaptic transmission. The cloning of the ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptor families has produced new strategies for the pharmacological modulation of glutamate transmission. The engineering of transgenic animals with modified expression of receptor proteins has created new insights into the function, dysfunction and possible pathology causally related to glutamate receptors. Advances in the pharmacology of glutamate receptors has lead to clinical research addressing multiple therapeutic applications of drugs that act on excitatory amino acid systems. A number of NMDA receptor antagonists have now been studied in humans. AMPA/kainate and metabotropic receptor active compounds have left the preclinical realm of research and have moved towards or are in the clinic. Excitatory amino acid research has brought new therapeutic concepts and increased immensely our understanding of how the brain works. The pharmaceutical industry has explored the emerging concepts and therapy related principles in the clinic. Research on excitatory amino acids in the last ten years has produced a foundation for future therapeutic strategies that are highly innovative, and now hold considerable promise to deliver novel pharmaceuticals for both neurological and psychiatric disorders. November 1998, after a long ten year break, marks the second symposium on "Excitatory Amino Acids - Manaus '98". The conference is organized under the auspices of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the Federation of Brazilian Societies of Experimental Biology and the Brazilian League Against Epilepsy. The selection of the venue has a symbolic characteristic and addresses the research in South America and developing countries. The meeting addresses today's emerging questions and the new avenues which glutamate research is taking in to the future from the perspectives of molecular biology, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and medicine. It is our goal that scientists from a variety of disciplines will benefit from the information provided.
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