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Monday, March 7, 2011

Glycine

Glycine
Glycine is structurally the simplest amino acid. There is evidence that it acts as an inhibitory transmitter in the hindbrain and spinal cord. The seizures that occur in response to strychnine poisoning are attributable to the convulsant-blocking glycine receptors in the spinal cord. Recent evidence also suggests that glycine can modulate the action of the excitatory transmitter glutamate on the major excitatory amino acid receptor complex in he brain, the so-called N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. As the density of NMDA receptor sites is high in the cortex, amygdala and basalganglia, this might explain the relatively high concentration of glycine which also occurs in these brain regions.

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