LAUSR

HighlightsAlzheimer's disease is an incurable neurodegenerative disease causing such a severe dementia to interfere with daily life.Pathognomonic lesions of Alzheimer's disease are plaques of &bgr;‐amyloid, neurofibrillary tangles and neuronal loss.Alterations of the glutamatergic transmission contribute to Alzheimer's disease pathology.Metabotropic glutamate receptor agonists, antagonists and ligands to allosteric sites have been investigated in preclinical models of Alzheimer's disease.Ongoing research on metabotropic glutamate receptors can foster a better understanding of Alzheimer's disease as well as having a therapeutic utility. &NA; A dysfunction of glutamate signaling is implicated at several levels in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. Currently, metabotropic glutamate receptors, which have a wide distribution in the central nervous system and activate a multitude of cell signaling pathways, are pursued as targets for therapeutic intervention in Alzheimer's disease. Research is still limited, but results underscore the relevance of ongoing studies. Here we discuss the latest updates regarding metabotropic glutamate receptors and their role in Alzheimer's disease, as well as promising metabotropic glutamate receptor ligands that have been investigated in preclinical models of Alzheimer's disease.