Novel neurotransmitter overturns laws of biology, offers potential for stroke...( e NMDA receptor may be a natural fail-s...),Health

"The NMDA receptor is so delicate, so crucial to us that some safeguards are in order," says Snyder. "Get too much glutamate -- one of the most abundant chemicals in the body -- and you're in trouble. But having a highly specific process to make one of the neurotransmitters could insure that activating a receptor doesn't happen by accident. The path to D-serine is pretty selective."

Other researchers in the study are Herman Wolosker, M.D., Ph.D., and Seth Blackshaw, Ph.D. The work was supported by a U.S. Public Health Service grant and a grant of the Theodore and Vada Stanley Foundation.

Under the terms of a licensing agreement between the Johns Hopkins University and Guilford Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dr. Snyder is entitled to a share of royalty received by the University on sales of products related to the technology described in this release. The University owns stock in Guilford, with Dr. Snyder having an interest in the University share under University policy. The University's stock is subject to certain restrictions under University policy. Dr. Snyder serves on the Board of Directors and the Scientific Advisory Board of Guilford, he is a consultant to the company, and he owns additional equity in Guilford. This arrangement is being managed by the University in accordance with its conflict of interest policies

'"/>

Contact: Marjorie Centofanti
mcentofanti@jhmi.edu
410-955-8725
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
8-Nov-1999