Excitotoxicity

Excitotoxic cell death is a pathological process that can occur due to toxic accumulation of intracellular cytosolic calcium that in turn leads to downstream activation of pro cell death pathways. Pathological calcium entry in neurons generally occurs due to excessive stimulation of glutamate receptors and other receptors associated with glutamatergic signaling, including the NMDA receptor and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGLURs), calcium channels and other GPCRs.