A Kinetic Model of the Functioning of the Glutamatergic Synapse: A Key Synaptic Contact in the Human Brain

A kinetic model of the functioning of the glutamate excitatory synapse with glutamate and N‑acetylaspartylglutamate as neurotransmitters in a three-component system, taking into account neuroglial astrocytic cells and the enzyme glutamate carboxypeptidase, is developed. The model is based on structural and chemical data and describes the dynamic behavior of the coupled metabolites of N-acetylaspartic and N‑acetylaspartyl glutamic acids, the most highly concentrated low-molecular agents in the human brain. Within the framework of the simulation, the biphasic nature of the process that provides amplification of the excitation signal is shown, the dynamics of the increase in the number of excited cells (the basis of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal) is presented, and the dynamics of a pulsed decrease in the concentration of N-acetylaspartate in the excitation zone is described.