Genetic autoantibodies and consciousness
Additional evidence for the contribution of glutamatergic NMDA receptors
to consciousness comes from patients with anti-NMDA encephalitis (Panzeret al. , 2014; Lynch et al. , 2018). In these cases,
patients’ antibodies bind to the NMDA receptors and cause loss or
reduction of NMDA receptor functions (Panzer et al. , 2014).
Consequently, these patients suffer from impaired consciousness,
movement disorders, other psychiatric symptoms, and even death. The
positive allosteric modulators of NMDA receptors may be used in the
future for the treatment of such patients (Warikoo et al. , 2018;
Mannara et al. , 2020). It has been reported that positive
allosteric modulation of NMDA receptors can enhance synaptic LTP (Franceet al. , 2022). It may be possible that these new chemicals may be
used to modulate the level of consciousness in the future.