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Abstract
Synaptic transmission in the CNS represents the classic mechanism through which neural cells communicate. While vesicular neurotransmitter release has been known to be the preserve of gray matter, it is now known that synaptic-style release of glutamate, the brain's major excitatory neurotransmitter, occurs deep in white matter. Here it permits communication between axons and glial cells, enabling axon activity to couple with high fidelity to glial physiology. As white matter is increasingly well-recognized as a substrate for disease, dysregulation of white matter synaptic transmission will play an important role in the development of pathologies as diverse as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease, and schizophrenia. This review highlights progress in this new and important field.
Footnotes
References e1–e25 are available on the Neurology® Web site at www.neurology.org.
Supplemental data at www.neurology.org
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- AD
- Alzheimer disease
- AMPAR
- α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid receptor
- EAE
- experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
- GM
- gray matter
- H/I
- hypoxic-ischemic
- HD
- Huntington disease
- iGluR
- ionotropic glutamate receptor
- MR-DTI
- magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging
- MS
- multiple sclerosis
- NMDAR
- NMDA receptor
- OPC
- oligodendrocyte precursor cell
- PVL
- periventricular leukomalacia
- RON
- rat optic nerve
- VGCC
- voltage-gated Ca2+ channel
- WM
- white matter
- Received May 21, 2010.
- Accepted September 20, 2010.
- Copyright © 2011 by AAN Enterprises, Inc.
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