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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Brain Dev. 2008 May 19;31(1):1–10. doi: 10.1016/j.braindev.2008.03.014

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Glutamate excitotoxicity results from over-activity of glutamate ionotropic receptors. Injury to neurons is caused by over-stimulation of NMDA receptors which flood the cytoplasm with calcium. AMPA receptor stimulation is also necessary to depolarize the neuronal membrane, allowing NMDA channels to open. Damage to pre-oligodendrocytes in the premature brain is caused predominantly by activation of AMPA receptors which lack GluR2 subunits and are permeable to calcium at that stage in development.