Glutamate is the anion of glutamic acid(an amino acid). It is the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in the nervous system of the zebrafish and other vertebrates. Post-synaptic transmission of glutamate is mediated by four types of glutamate receptors:

  • NMDA receptors: ionotropic transmembrane receptor that requires in addition to the binding of glutamate, glycine to also bind as a co-agonist to open the ion channel. The ion channel associated with the NMDAR is cation NMDAR current flow is directly related to membrane depolarization, the opening probability of the channel increases with depolarization allowing voltage dependent flow of sodium and calcium ions into the post-synaptic neuron and potassium ions out of the cell.

  • AMPA receptors: ionotropic transmembrane receptor permeable to cations including calcium, sodium and potassium ions. AMPA receptors open and close very quickly and are responsible for most of the fast excitatory transmission in the nervous system. They also play a role in synaptic plasticity and are required for long-term potentiation LTP.

  • metabotropic glutamate receptors: These receptors are indirectly linked with ion channels and mediate their responses through second messengers such as G-proteins, they can initiate a variety of cellular effects, such as ion channel opening or other cellular effects through triggering signal transduction cascades. Ion channel opening via metabotropic receptors can last for seconds to minutes, as opposed to milliseconds in the case of ionotropic receptors. This means the effects of metabotropic glutamtergic signalling can last much longer and can have more widespread effects throughout the cell.

  • kainate receptors: the rarest type of glutamate receptor in the nervous system, kainate receptors can be both pre and post synaptic. Kainate receptors are ionotropic receptors whose ion channels are permeable to sodium and potassium ions when activated by glutamate leading to depolarisation of the post-synaptic neuron.

Antibodies that label glutamatergic neurons

Transgenic lines that label glutamatergic neurons

Tg(slc17a6b:DsRed) or vglut:DsRed can also be viewed on ZBB at ZBB>Aliases>Neurotransmitters>Glutamatergic

Probes that label glutamatergic neurons

Key Publications


Higashijima, S.I., Mandel, G., and Fetcho, J.R. (2004)
Distribution of prospective glutamatergic, glycinergic, and GABAergic neurons in embryonic and larval zebrafish.
The Journal of comparative neurology. 480(1):1-18.

Filippi, A., Mueller, T., and Driever, W. (2014)
Vglut2 and gad expression reveal distinct patterns of dual GABAergic versus glutamatergic cotransmitter phenotypes of dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurons in the zebrafish brain.
The Journal of comparative neurology. 522(9):2019-37.