Sculptor and Destroyer

The fascinating story of glutamate, the neurotransmitter that controls the structure and function of the brain in health and neurological disorders.

Sculptor and Destroyer tells the story of a simple, little-known molecule that became a master architect and commander of the human brain: glutamate. Upward of 90 percent of the neurons in the human brain deploy glutamate as their neurotransmitter. Other neurotransmitters can only exert their effects on brain function by subtly modifying the ongoing activity of glutamatergic neurons, but during brain development glutamate controls the growth of dendrites and the formation of synapses. In this eye-opening book, Mark Mattson explains how the neurotransmitter glutamate controls the structure and function of neuronal networks in the brain, thereby mediating the brain’s capabilities, including learning and memory, creativity, and imagination.

Mattson also delves deeply into the dark side of glutamate, which he calls the “destroyer” side. He shows how relatively subtle aberrancies in the activity of neurons that deploy glutamate may result in behavioral disorders ranging from autism and schizophrenia to chronic anxiety and depression. More dramatically, he describes how glutamate can excite neurons to death, a process that occurs in epilepsy and stroke and, perhaps even more insidiously, in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, and Huntington’s disease. Sculptor and Destroyer concludes with a perspective on how knowledge of glutamate’s roles in neuroplasticity might be applied to the optimization of brain health throughout our lives.

Written in engaging, approachable prose, Sculptor and Destroyer will be of interest to anyone in the fields of neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, and psychology, as well as to anyone with a curiosity about the human brain.Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
2 An Ancient Neurotransmitter 19
3 Sculpting Baby's Brain 45
4 Forget Me Not 65
5 Seeking Energy 93
6 Excited to Death 109
7 Unexpected Attacks 121
8 Eve of Destruction 139
9 Center Stage in Mental Health 173
10 One Pill Makes You... 191
11 Sculpting a Better Brain 221
Summary 251
Epilogue 253
References 261
Further Reading 287
Index 295“Few neurotransmitters match glutamate’s versatility in fostering or damaging the brain.  Few scientists match the magnitude of Mattson’s contributions to this knowledge.  And few books match this one as a superb synthesis of a field.”
—Robert Sapolsky, Professor, Stanford University; author of Behave
 
“Whilst focusing on L-glutamate, this book delves into many aspects of neuroscience, reflecting the importance of this neurotransmitter in health and disease.  Written with great authority, it is essential reading for neuroscientists of all ages.”
—Graham Collingridge, Director of the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and Professor in the Department of Physiology, University of Toronto; Senior Investigator, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto Mark P. Mattson is currently Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and was previously Chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore. He is among the most highly cited neuroscientists in the world with more than 900 publications and 200,000 citations, is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has received many awards including the Metropolitan Life Foundation Medical Research Award and the Alzheimer’s Association Zenith Fellows Award. He is the author of The Intermittent Fasting Revolution: The Science of Optimizing Health and Enhancing Performance (MIT Press).