NEUROTOXICITY AND POSSIBLE ROLES OF ASPARTIC-ACID, GLUTAMIC-ACID AND GABA IN SOME NEUROLOGIC DISORDERS

In this study, the role of excitatory amino acids; aspartic (ASP) and glutamic acid (GLU), and GABA is defined on the basis of accumulated r esults obtained in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 88 patients with neu rological disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD) (n=20), cerebrova scular disorder (CVD) (n=16), multiple sclerosis (MS) (n=20), tubercul ous meningitis (TBM) (n=14) and aseptic meningitis (AM) (n=18). These results are compared with data from healthy subjects (n=14). The resul ts show significant CSF increase of ASP,GLU and GABA in all these grou ps except in MS patients where decrease in ASP, GLU and GABA was obser ved. There is a linear relationship between CSF GLU and nitrite in PD, CVD and TBM patients suggesting these two parameters are interrelated , promoting the possibility for the design of therapeutic approaches c onsisting of GLU release inhibitors and EAA antagonists and free radic al scavengers for treatment of these neurologic disorders with effecti vity.