Glutamate receptor Glutamate receptor Glutamate receptors are synaptic and non synaptic receptors located primarily on the membranes of neuronal and glial cells. Glutamate (the conjugate base of glutamic acid) is abundant in the human body, but particularly in the nervous system and especially prominent in the human brain where it is the body's most prominent neurotransmitter, the brain's main excitatory neurotransmitter, and also the precursor for GABA, the brain's main inhibitory neurotransmitter. Glutamate receptors are responsible for the glutamate-mediated postsynaptic excitation of neural cells, and are important for neural communication, memory formation, learning, and regulation. Glutamate receptors are implicated in a number
Carotid body sustentacular supportive cells. The carotid body contains the most vascularized tissue in the human body . The thyroid gland is very vascular, but not quite as much as the carotid body. The carotid body functions as a sensor: it responds to a stimulus, primarily O partial pressure, which is detected by the type I (glomus) cells, and triggers an action potential through the afferent fibers of the glossopharyngeal nerve, which relays the information to the central nervous system. The carotid body chemoreceptors are primarily sensitive to decreases in the partial pressure of oxygen (P). This is in contrast to the