BACKGROUND Glutamate transporters play an important role in maintaining extracellular glutamate homeostasis. Volatile anesthetics have been shown to affect glutamate transporter activity acutely (within minutes after the exposure). It is not known whether volatile anesthetics affect the expression of glutamate transporters. METHODS Rat cultured C6 glioma cells that express excitatory amino ac...

Within the mammalian central nervous system, the efficient removal of L-glutamate from the extracellular space by excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) has been postulated to contribute to signal termination, the recycling of transmitter, and the maintenance of L-glutamate at concentrations below those that are excitotoxic. The development of potent and selective inhibitors of the EAATs ha...

The neuronal glutamate transporter EAAC1 (EAAT3) is present in hippocampal neurons to prevent excessive glutamate accumulation. Glutamate receptor-dependent synaptic plasticity is important for learning and memory. The present study investigates behavior associated with blocking the glutamate transporter EAAC1. To manipulate EAAC1 function, rats were intrahippocampally injected with a adeno-ass...

Excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) terminate glutamatergic synaptic transmission and maintain extracellular glutamate concentrations in the central nervous system below excitotoxic levels. In addition to sustaining a secondary-active glutamate transport, EAAT glutamate transporters also function as anion-selective channels. Here, we report a gating process that makes anion channels asso...

Persistent, use-dependent modulation of synaptic strength has been demonstrated for fast synaptic transmission mediated by glutamate and has been hypothesized to underlie persistent behavioral changes ranging from memory to addiction. Glutamate released at synapses is sequestered by the action of excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) in glia and postsynaptic neurons. So, the efficacy of gl...

Glutamate homeostasis in the brain is maintained by glutamate transporter mediated accumulation. Impaired transport is associated with several neurological disorders, including stroke and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Crystal structures of the homolog transporter GltPh from Pyrococcus horikoshii revealed large structural changes. Substrate uptake at the atomic level and the mechanism of ion gr...

Neither expression nor functionality is clear in peripheral tissues with the molecular machineries required for excitatory neurotransmitter signaling by L-glutamate (Glu) in the central nervous system, while a recent study has shown that several Glu receptors are functionally expressed in the rat testis. This fact prompted us to explore the possible functional expression in the rat testis of th...

Background: The vesicular BAT3 transporter (SLC6A17), one of the members of the SLC6 family, is a transporter for neutral amino acids and is exclusively expressed in brain. Here we provide a comprehensive expression profile of BAT3 in mouse brain using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. Results: We confirmed previous expression data from rat brain and used a novel custom made antib...

An increase in neuronal glutamate transporter expression after nerve injury was demonstrated by means of differential display PCR (DD-PCR) coupled with in situ hybridization. DD-PCR was carried out to compare differences in expression of mRNAs between axotomized and normal hypoglossal motoneurons in the rat. The expression of several gene fragments were found to be increased following nerve inj...