what part of the brain does glutamate affect
Glutamate (neurotransmitter) In neuroscience, glutamate refers to the anion of glutamic acid in its role as a neurotransmitter: a chemical that nerve cells use to send signals to other cells. It is by a wide margin the most abundant neurotransmitter in the vertebrate nervous system.[1] It is used by every major excitatory function in the vertebrate brain, accounting in total for well over 90% of the synaptic connections in the human brain. It also serves as the primary neurotransmitter for some localized brain regions, such as cerebellum granule cells.
Upper motor neuron The primary motor cortex or precentral gyrus, is one of the most important areas in the frontal lobe. The precentral gyrus is the most posterior gyrus of the frontal lobe and it lies anterior to the central sulcus. The pyramidal cells of the precentral gyrus are also called upper motor neurons. The fibers of the upper motor neurons project out of the precentral gyrus ending in the brainstem, where they will decussate (intersect) within the lower medulla oblongata to form the lateral corticospinal tract on each side of the spinal cord. The fibers that do not decussate will pass through the medulla and continue on to form the anterior corticospinal tracts. The upper motor neuron descends in the spinal cord to the level of the appropriate spinal nerve root. At this point, the upper motor neuron synapses with the lower motor neuron, each of whose axons innervate a fiber of skeletal muscle.[1][2]