Metabotropic glutamate receptors: From the workbench to the bedside

Metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptors were discovered in the mid 1980s and originally described as glutamate receptors coupled to polyphosphoinositide hydrolysis. Almost 6500 articles have been published since then, and subtype-selective mGlu receptor ligands are now under clinical development for the treatment of a variety of disorders such as Fragile-X syndrome, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias, generalized anxiety disorder, chronic pain, and gastroesophageal reflux disorder. Prof. Erminio Costa was linked to the early times of the mGlu receptor history, when a few research groups challenged the general belief that glutamate could only activate ionotropic receptors and all metabolic responses to glutamate were secondary to calcium entry. This review moves from those nostalgic times to the most recent advances in the physiology and pharmacology of mGlu receptors, and highlights the role of individual mGlu receptor subtypes in the pathophysiology of human disorders. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled ‘Trends in Neuropharmacology: In Memory of Erminio Costa’

Measurement of elastic J/#psi# photoproduction at HERA

The reaction #gamma# p #-># J/#psi#p has been studied in ep interactions using the ZEUS detector at HERA. The cross section for elastic J/#psi# photoproduction has been measured as a function of the photon-proton centre of mass energy W in the range 40 < W < 140 GeV at a median photon virtuality Q"2 of 5 x 10"-"5 GeV"2. The photoproduction cross section, #sigma#_#gamma#_p_#->#_J_/_#psi#_p, is observed to rise steeply with W. A fit to the data presented in this paper to determine the parameter #delta# in the form #sigma#_#gamma#_p_#->#_J_/_#psi#_p #propor to# W"#delta# yields the value #delta# = 0.92 #+-# 0.14 #+-# 0.10. The differential cross section d#sigma#/d vertical stroke t vertical stroke is presented over the range vertical stroke t vertical stroke < 1.0 GeV"2 where t is the square of the four-momentum exchanged at the proton vertex. d#sigma#/d vertical stroke t vertical stroke falls exponentially with a slope parameter of 4.6 #+-# 0.4"+"0"."4_-_0_._6 GeV"-"2. The measured decay angular distributions are consistent with s-channel helicity conservation. (orig.)Available from FIZ Karlsruhe / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman