Abstract

Removal of glutamate from the synaptic cleft is an essential component of the transmission process at glutamatergic synapses. This requirement is fulfilled by transporters that have a high affinity for glutamate and exhibit a unique coupling to Na+, K+ and OH- ions. Independently, three groups have succeeded in cloning cDNAs encoding high-affinity Na(+)-dependent glutamate transporters. These transporters are structurally distinct from previously characterized neurotransmitter transporters and show sequence identity with prokaryotic glutamate and dicarboxylate transporters. In addition, they exhibit significant differences in their structure, function and tissue distribution. This review compares and contrasts these differences, and incorporates into the existing body of knowledge these new breakthroughs.

Keywords

Excitatory amino-acid transporterNeuroscienceTransporterGlutamate receptorPsychologyComputational biologyBiologyBiochemistryReceptorGeneExcitatory postsynaptic potential

MeSH Terms

Amino Acid Transport System X-AGAnimalsBiological TransportGlutamatesGlutamic AcidGlycoproteinsHumansSynaptic Transmission

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Publication Info

Year
1993
Type
review
Volume
16
Issue
9
Pages
365-370
Citations
198
Access
Closed

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Cite This

Yoshikatsu Kanai, Craig P. Smith, Matthias A. Hediger (1993). The elusive transporters with a high affinity for glutamate. Trends in Neurosciences , 16 (9) , 365-370. https://doi.org/10.1016/0166-2236(93)90094-3

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/0166-2236(93)90094-3
PMID
7694407

Data Quality

Data completeness: 81%