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Massive plumes of glutamate, a key neurotransmitter, surging in the brain could help explain the onset of migraine with aura and potentially a broad swath of neurologic disease, including stroke and traumatic brain injury according to an international study led by University of Utah Health scientists.
The study, which was conducted in laboratory mice, found that an abnormal release of glutamate into the extra-cellular space the area between brain cells can spark spreading depolarizations, tsunami-like waves of activity that spread across the brain in migraine and other nervous system disorders. This is something new under the sun, says K.C. Brennan, M.D. a U of U Health professor of neurology and the study s co-corresponding author (with Dr. Daniela Pietrobon of the University of Padova in Italy). Glutamate plumes are a completely new mechanism of migraine, and it s a good bet that they are players in other diseases of the nervous system.