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OECD Series on Adverse Outcome Pathways

An Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) describes a logical sequence of causally linked events at different levels of biological organisation, which follows exposure to a stressor and leads to an adverse health effect in humans or wildlife. AOPs are the central element of a toxicological knowledge framework, promoted by member countries through OECD, built to support chemical risk assessment based on mechanistic reasoning. These AOPs are available in the AOP-Wiki, an interactive and virtual encyclopaedia for AOP development. Following their development and review, the endorsed AOPs are published in the OECD Series on Adverse Outcome Pathways. As scientific knowledge progresses, the publication of an AOP in this series does not preclude regular updates or new contributions to a given AOP. While the AOP-Wiki is a dynamic tool, only impactful changes to the AOP will be reflected in subsequent updates of the published AOP.

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Adverse Outcome Pathway on binding of agonists to ionotropic glutamate receptors in adult brain leading to excitotoxicity that mediates neuronal cell death, contributing to learning and memory impairment

Under physiological conditions activation of glutamate ionotropic receptors such as N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDARs), alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate (AMPARs) and kainate (KARs) is responsible for basal excitatory synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity. However, sustained over-activation of these receptors can induce excitotoxic neuronal cell death. Increased Ca2+ influx through NMDARs promotes many pathways of toxicity due to generation of free radical species, reduced ATP production, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and protein aggregation. Neuronal injury induced by over-activation of these receptors and the excessive Ca2+ influx is considered an early key event of excitotoxicity. The proposed AOP is relevant to adult neurotoxicity. The MIE has been defined as a direct binding of agonists to NMDARs or indirect, through prior activation of AMPARs and/or KARs resulting in sustained NMDARs over-activation causing excitotoxic neuronal cell death, mainly in hippocampus and cortex, two brain structures fundamental for learning and memory processes.
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Keywords: excitotoxicity, impairment of learning and memory in adults, adult neurotoxicity, ionotropic glutamate receptors
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Author(s)
Magdalini Sachanai, Sharon Munni and Anna Bal-Pricei iJoint Research Centre, European Commission, Ispra

09 Sept 2016

118 pages

No. 6

https://doi.org/10.1787/5jlr8vqgm630-en

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