This is not a comprehensive list, simply some articles I have found along the way.
“Our review suggests that most autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk factors are connected, either directly or indirectly, to immunoexcitotoxicity. Chronic brain inflammation is known to enhance the sensitivity of glutamate receptors and interfere with glutamate removal from the extraneuronal space, where it can trigger excitotoxicity over a prolonged period. Neuroscience studies have clearly shown that sequential systemic immune stimulation can activate the brain’s immune system, microglia, and astrocytes, and that with initial immune stimulation, there occurs CNS microglial priming. Children are exposed to such sequential immune stimulation via a growing number of environmental excitotoxins, vaccines, and persistent viral infections. We demonstrate that fluoride and aluminum (Al3+) can exacerbate the pathological problems by worsening excitotoxicity and inflammation. While Al3+ appears among the key suspicious factors of ASD, fluoride is rarely recognized as a causative culprit. A long-term burden of these ubiquitous toxins has several health effects with a striking resemblance to the symptoms of ASD. In addition, their synergistic action in molecules of aluminofluoride complexes can affect cell signaling, neurodevelopment, and CNS functions at several times lower concentrations than either Al3+ or fluoride acting alone. Our review opens the door to a number of new treatment modes that naturally reduce excitotoxicity and microglial priming” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29721353/
“Aluminum, glutamate, mercury — all of these things are more toxic in the context of glyphosate, and I think this is why the vaccines are being implicated in autism,” said Dr. Seneff. “The vaccines are actually much more toxic today than they were 20 years ago, with exactly the same formulation. The reason is because glyphosate is enabling those chemicals in the vaccine to do far more damage than they would otherwise do.” http://www.naturalnews.com/049065_glyphosate_autism_gmos.html
“An enzyme called glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) is needed for glutamate to make the conversion to GABA, but there are several factors that may interfere with this enzyme and impede the conversion process, which means a build up of glutamate and inhibited formation of GABA. Response time may be delayed or capacity to convert may be impaired. It is believed that problems with the GAD enzyme may be the primary underlying issue that results in too much glutamate.” “For example, the rubella virus, which is found in the MMR vaccination can decrease activity of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD)by as much as fifty percent. Thus, one of the reasons children begin to exhibit some of the symptoms of autism immediately after vaccination, as we mentioned earlier GABA is critical in speech and brain function.” (http://www.holistichelp.net/blog/how-to-increase-gaba-and-balance-glutamate/)
“In the absence of glutamate,neurons are unaffected by acute exposure to mercury, suggesting that neuronal dysfunction is secondary to disturbances in astrocytes.” (http://dramyyasko.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/17-A1-Excitotoxins.pdf)
“A large number of studies suggest that excitotoxicity plays a significant role in the neurotoxic action of a number of metals, including aluminum. Recently, re- searchers have found that while most of the chronic neurodegenerative effects of these metals are secondary to prolonged inflammation, it is the enhancement of excitotoxicity by the immune mediators that is responsible for most of the metal’s toxicity.” (http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/documents/Aluminum-Blaylock.pdf)
A current hypothesis about methylmercury (MeHg) neurotoxicity proposes that neuronal damage is due to excitotoxicity following glutamate uptake alterations in the astrocyte. , ……we measured the effects of acute exposure to either 10 or 100 microM MeHg through the microdialysis probe, on glutamate extracellular levels in 15 awake animals. …… immediate and significant elevations in extracellular glutamate at 10 microM (9.8-fold, P<.001) and at 100 microM (2.4-fold, P=.001). This in vivo demonstration of increments of extracellular glutamate supports the hypothesis that dysfunction of glutamate neurotransmission plays a key role in MeHg-induced neural damage.” – This then indicates that a lower dose of mercury can be significantly more excitotoxic. So when we hear that vaccine companies have LESSENED mercury to trace amounts, these researchers have shown that damage still can occur. It would appear that glutamates are highly sensitive to the effects of mercury and this again shows even more evidence to a mechanism of vaccine injury, especially as far as autism is concerned. Is mercury the only cause of glutamate receptor and transporte¬r immunoreac-tivity? It’s hard to say as NIH and CDC don’t seem to fund those types of studies but here is one from Japan that would make one wonder about MMR: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12460659. http://www.ageofautism.com/2011/03/autism-and-glutamate-dysfunction-avoid-the-cause-race-to-the-cure.html
“Mercury in the body becomes more toxic in the presence of high levels of glutamate.” (http://www.holistichelp.net/blog/how-to-increase-gaba-and-balance-glutamate/)
“The aluminium-induced differential regional accumulation of glutamate or other alterations in enzymes of the glutamate-GABA system may be one of the causes of aluminium-induced neurotoxicity.” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11696403)
“Addressing aluminum toxicity by decreasing bacteria in the system that harbor aluminum is a critical intervention. Aluminum tremendously increases the neurotoxicity of glutamate. Worse, glutamate has aluminum binding capacities that can act to hold
aluminum in the system.” “Bacteria have been shown to retain heavy metals and aluminum. A number of di erent bacteria can accumulate various types of metals and may retain those metals in the body by several mechanisms.50,44,42,35,13,3 These metals interfere with the body’s biochemical pathways in well-documented ways. The large intestine harbors a large, complex ecosystem of microbes. For example, a healthy adult carries between 1.5 and 2.0 kg of bacteria in his gastrointestinal lumen.16,53 This space retains the organisms as well as the toxic and heavy metals that they contain. In some cases, up to 50 percent of the dry weight of the bacteria can be heavy metals.13” ( http://nancymullanmd.com/pdf/Yasko-Mullan_Seizure_Article.pdf”
“The alterations of regional brain glutamate and γ-aminobutyrate levels by aluminum are region specific as well as dependent on dietary protein intake. The impact of aluminum exposure on the metabolism of these amino acid neurotransmitters are also influenced by dietary protein level. Thus, modification of dietary protein level or manipulation of the brain amino acid homeostasis by any other means may be an useful tool to find out a path to restrict amino acid neurotransmitter alterations in aluminum-associated neurodisorders.” https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/…/1471-2202-4-4
“A compelling amount of research has shown that repeated stimulation of the systemic immune system results in first priming the brain’s immune cells (called microglia) in the developing brain, followed by an intense microglial reaction with each successive series of vaccinations. When activated, especially chronically, microglia secrete a number of inflammatory cytokines, free radicals, lipid per oxidation products, and two excitotoxins—glutamate and quinolinic acid. Because of the critical dependence of the developing brain on a timed sequence of cytokine and excitatory amino acid fluctuation, sequential vaccination can result in alterations in this critical process that cause brain damage and abnormal pathway development. The evidence suggests that this overstimulation and persistent activation of the microglia is the central mechanism causing autism.” (http://beyondhealth.com/media/wysiwyg/kadro/articles/ExcessiveHungerandAutism.pdf)
“Intriguingly, the elevation of anterior pituitary secreting hormones occurred exclusively in male but not in female thimerosal-treated mice, demonstrating for the first time the gender bias of thimerosal-mercury toxicity with regard to endocrine system. Our results indicate that higher dose of neonatal thimerosal-mercury (20× higher than that used in human) is capable of inducing long-lasting substantial dysregulation of neurodevelopment, synaptic function, and endocrine system, which could be the causal involvements of autistic-like behavior in mice.” https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/139/2/452/2511500/Transcriptomic-Analyses-of-Neurotoxic-Effects-in
Mice who were treated with thimerosal, the vaccine mercury, after birth then showed glutamate receptor dysfunction: “”Hippocampal architectu¬re and glutamate receptor and transporte¬r immunoreac¬tivity are disrupted in SJL mice by postnatal thimerosal¬”…….NR¬1 and NR2b glutamate receptor immunoreac¬tivity patterns are abnormal in the hippocampi of thimerosal treated SJL mice…… Neuronal glutamate transporte¬r immunoreac¬tivity patterns are abnormal in the hippocampi of thimerosal¬-treated SJL mice……¬Seizure related increases in extracellu¬lar glutamate are noted in temporal lobe epilepsy.” “Further, immune response genes may be linked to other heritable factors mediating toxin-induced CNS damage, such as systems regulating antioxidant45 or DNA methylation46 status, apoptosis pathways,47 glutamatergic transmission or excitotoxicity,48 metallothionein isoforms,49 or proinflammatory cytokine responses.50 As a central role is implicated for the Th1-type cytokine, interferon-italic gamma (IFN-italic gamma), in mercury-induced autoimmunity51 and general autoimmune disease susceptibility,52 we included C57 mice in our strain comparison; similar to SJL mice, C57 mice show a Th1-type cytokine predominance, including increased levels of IFN-italic gamma gene expression at baseline,53 yet are less sensitive than SJL mice to autoimmune sequelae following mercury or other Th1-dependent, autoimmunity-provoking challenges.54, 55 BALB mice, in contrast, demonstrate predominance of Th2-type cytokines, with reduced basal levels of transcripts representing IFN-italic gamma relative to C57 and SJL mice,53 and resistance to Th1-initiated autoimmune diseases.56 The susceptibility to the neurotoxic effects of low-dose postnatal thimerosal closely paralleled these immune vulnerabilities.” http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v9/n9/full/4001529a.html
“Of special concern is the ability of mercury, especially ethylmercury (the kind found in vaccines called thimerosal) to inhibit the regulation of brain glutamate levels. (It does this by inhibiting the glutamate transfer proteins that control the removal of glutamate from outside the neuron, where it does its harm.)” (http://www.whale.to/b/blaylock.html#The_Link_Between_Elevated_Brain_Glutamate_and_Inflammation)
“Marked increase in glutamate and glutamine levels was noticed while GABA level was significantly decreased. The most pronounced changes in brain tissue included spongioform changes in the neurons specially those of hippocampus, nuclear deformity, and neurofibrillary degeneration, similar to neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer’s disease. It is concluded that accumulated aluminum in brain and altered amino acid neurotransmitters are important mechanisms of aluminum neurotoxicity.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12591013
Love this AutismOne presentation by Dr. Chris Shade, it was around the 1:15 mark that I realized I wasn’t crazy: Chemical and Heavy Metal Detox How to Navigate the Difficult Terrain
http://vaxtruth.org/2012/04/when-1-in-88-is-really-1-in-29/
Glutamate in vaccines http://www.truthinlabeling.org/Vaccines.html
Stories of Hope