Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and glutamate

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive fatal disorder devastating t he spinal cord and brain in humans; Excitotoxicity has been suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This hypoth esis has driven a wealth of basic research and stimulated development of ne uroprotective therapies for chronic neurdegenerative disorders. As a result of these efforts, riluzole, an antiglutamatergic drug, has been establishe d in the therapy of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A transgenic mouse showi ng features of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has been subsequently engineer ed enabling studies of the disease irt vivo. However, despite-considerable progress, the etiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis remains obscure and the disturbances in excitatory neurotransmission should by no means be reg arded as exclusive to the pathogenesis of the disease.