Lactams, glutamate transport and fatigue

[Guest guest]

I haven't been keeping up on the various fatigue-related boards

recently, so I apologize if this line of reasoning has already been

advanced.

These researchers:

Ronnback L, Hansson E.

On the potential role of glutamate transport in mental fatigue.

J Neuroinflammation. 2004 Nov 4;1(1):22.

http://tinyurl.com/cwkt3

suggest that glutamate transport is related to fatigue.

These researchers:

Rothstein JD, Patel S, Regan MR, Haenggeli C, Huang YH,

Bergles DE, Jin L, Dykes Hoberg M, Vidensky S, Chung DS,

Toan SV, Bruijn LI, Su ZZ, Gupta P, Fisher PB.

Beta-lactam antibiotics offer neuroprotection by increasing

glutamate transporter expression.

Nature. 2005 Jan 6;433(7021):73-7.

PMID: 15635412

http://tinyurl.com/7722e

Show that glutamate transport is influenced by beta-lactams.

These people:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/352/13/1376

say, " A cautionary point illustrated by this report is that the

beneficial effects of a given drug cannot always be attributed to a

single mechanism. For example, there are anecdotal claims that

chronic fatigue syndromes respond to ceftriaxone (or other

antibiotics) because the underlying problem is chronic Lyme

disease. However, the study by Rothstein and colleagues1

indicates that ceftriaxone may exert important effects on the

central nervous system that are independent of its role as an

antibiotic. "

There is also the view, by De meirleir, that lactams inhibit

elastase.

I haven't read any of these papers yet, and won't for awhile. So

I'm not in a position to comment in more detail.

Matt