Glutamate

Glutamate is an amino acid that is one of the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitters in the brain.  Glutamate occurs naturally in foods as MSG, like tomatoes, but because it cannot cross the blood brain barrier, it must by synthesized in the brain. It produced from an intermediate called alpha ketogluterate that is produced in the Krebs cycle. Glutamate was discovered by a man named T. Hayashi in the 1950s. It took so long to identify this neurotransmitter because it is involved in so many crossroads of brain activity. It is involved in the activation of AMPA and NMDA receptors and the interactions at these receptors seem to facilitate learning and memory. If there is too much glutamate in the brain, something called excitotoxicity can occur, where glutamate will over-excite neurons, causing them to die. This can cause seizures. If there is too little glutamate, a person can succumb to a coma and eventually death. In the case of too little glutamate, stroke can also occur.

My idea for how to demonstrate my impression of glutamate is a rudimentary memory game. I created picture cards that a person flips over 2 at a time in order to find matches. The pictures I put on these cards are pictures of common flora in Tennessee. I chose wildflowers I have seen around the area. I decided to draw Tennessee wildflowers, because it is spring and all of the plants are flowering. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter that is very abundant. Spring brings out abundant and common wildflowers. Glutamate is also involved in neuroplasticity, learning and memory, thus I made a memory game. 

I have enclosed pictures of my game.