Excitatory amino-acid transporters (EAATs), also known as glutamate transporters, belong to the family of neurotransmitter transporters. Glutamate is the principal excitatory neurotransmitter in the vertebrate brain. EAATs serve to terminate the excitatory signal by removal (uptake) of glutamate from the neuronal synaptic cleft into neuroglia and neurons.
The EAATs are membrane-bound secondary transporters that superficially resemble ion channels.[1] These transporters play the important role of regulating concentrations of glutamate in the extracellular space by transporting it along with other ions across cellular membranes.[2] After glutamate is released as the result of an action potential, glutamate transporters quickly remove it from the extracellular space to keep its levels low, thereby terminating the synaptic transmission.[1][3]
Without the activity of glutamate transporters, glutamate would build up and kill cells in a process called excitotoxicity, in which excessive amounts of glutamate acts as a toxin to neurons by triggering a number of biochemical cascades. The activity of glutamate transporters also allows glutamate to be recycled for repeated release.[4]
Glutamate transporters also transport aspartate and are present in virtually all peripheral tissues including bone, heart, liver, and testes. They exhibit stereoselectivity for L-glutamate but transport both L- and D-aspartate.
Contents
- 1 Classes
- 2 Pathology
- 3 See also
- 4 References
- 5 External links
Classes
There are two general classes of glutamate transporters, those that are dependent on an electrochemical gradient of sodium ions (the EAATs) and those that are not (VGLUTs and xCT).[5] The cystine-glutamate antiporter (xCT) is localised to the plasma membrane of cells whilst vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs) are found in the membrane of glutamate-containing synaptic vesicles. Na+-dependent EAATs are also dependent on transmembrane K+ and H+concentration gradients, and so are also known as 'sodium and potassium coupled glutamate transporters'. Na+-dependent transporters have also been called 'high-affinity glutamate transporters', though their glutamate affinity actually varies widely.[5]
Mitochondria also possess mechanisms for taking up glutamate that are quite distinct from membrane glutamate transporters.[5]
EAATs
In humans (as well as in rodents), five subtypes have been identified and named EAAT1-5 (SLC1A3, SLC1A2, SLC1A1, SLC1A6, SLC1A7). Subtypes EAAT1-2 are found in membranes of glial cells[6] (astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes). However, low levels of EAAT2 are also found in the axon-terminals of hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cells.[7] The EAAT3-4 subtypes are exclusively neuronal, but are only expressed in cell bodies and dendrites.,[8][9] Finally, EAAT5 is only found in the retina where it is principally localized to photoreceptors and bipolar neurons in the retina.[10] In rodents, the orthologs for EAAT1-3 are named GLAST, GLT1, and EAAC1, respectively,[3] whereas the acronyms EAAT4 and EAAT5 are conserved.
When glutamate is taken up into glial cells by the EAATs, it is converted to glutamine and subsequently transported back into the presynaptic neuron, converted back into glutamate, and taken up into synaptic vesicles by action of the VGLUTs.[3][11] This process is named the glutamate-glutamine cycle.
The glial transporters - in particular the various splice variants of GLT-1 (EAAT2)[12] - play the largest role (90%) in regulating extracellular glutamate concentration.[13]
| protein |
gene |
tissue distribution |
| EAAT1 |
SLC1A3 |
astroglial cells[6] |
| EAAT2 |
SLC1A2 |
astroglial cells;[6] low levels in some neurons[7] |
| EAAT3 |
SLC1A1 |
all neurons, but not axon-terminals[9] |
| EAAT4 |
SLC1A6 |
neurons |
| EAAT5 |
SLC1A7 |
retina |
| VGLUT1 |
SLC17A7 |
neurons |
| VGLUT2 |
SLC17A6 |
neurons |
| VGLUT3 |
SLC17A8 |
neurons |
VGLUTs
Four types of vesicular glutamate transporters are known, VGLUTs 1–3[14] (SLC17A7, SLC17A6, and SLC17A8 respectively)[3] and the novel glutamate/aspartate transporter sialin.[15] These transporters pack the neurotransmitter into synaptic vesicles so that they can be released into the synapse. VGLUTs are dependent on the proton gradient that exists in the secretory system (vesicles being more acidic than the cytosol). VGLUTs have only between one hundredth and one thousandth the affinity for glutamate that EAATs have.[3] Also unlike EAATs, they do not appear to transport aspartate.
Pathology
Overactivity of glutamate transporters may result in inadequate synaptic glutamate and may be involved in schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.[1]
During injury processes such as ischemia and traumatic brain injury, the action of glutamate transporters may fail, leading to toxic buildup of glutamate. In fact, their activity may also actually be reversed due to inadequate amounts of adenosine triphosphate to power ATPase pumps, resulting in the loss of the electrochemical ion gradient. Since the direction of glutamate transport depends on the ion gradient, these transporters release glutamate instead of removing it, which results in neurotoxicity due to overactivation of glutamate receptors.[16]
Loss of the Na+-dependent glutamate transporter EAAT2 is suspected to be associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, and ALS–parkinsonism dementia complex.[17] Also, degeneration of motor neurons in the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has been linked to loss of EAAT2 from patients' brains and spinal cords.[17]
See also
- Dopamine transporters
- Norepinephrine transporters
- Serotonin transporters
- NMDA receptors
- AMPA receptors
- Kainate receptors
- Metabotropic glutamate receptors
References
- ^ a b c Ganel R, Rothstein JD (1999). "Chapter 15, Glutamate transporter dysfunction and neuronal death". In Monyer, Hannah; Gabriel A. Adelmann; Jonas, Peter. Ionotropic glutamate receptors in the CNS. Berlin: Springer. pp. 472–493. ISBN 3-540-66120-4.
- ^ Zerangue, N, Kavanaugh, MP (1996). "Flux coupling in a neuronal glutamate transporter". Nature 383 (6601): 634–37. doi:10.1038/383634a0. PMID 8857541.
- ^ a b c d e Shigeri Y, Seal RP, Shimamoto K (2004). "Molecular pharmacology of glutamate transporters, EAATs and VGLUTs". Brain Res. Brain Res. Rev. 45 (3): 250–65. doi:10.1016/j.brainresrev.2004.04.004. PMID 15210307.
- ^ Zou JY, Crews FT (2005). "TNF alpha potentiates glutamate neurotoxicity by inhibiting glutamate uptake in organotypic brain slice cultures: neuroprotection by NF kappa B inhibition". Brain Res. 1034 (1-2): 11–24. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2004.11.014. PMID 15713255.
- ^ a b c Danbolt NC (2001). "Glutamate uptake". Prog. Neurobiol. 65 (1): 1–105. doi:10.1016/S0301-0082(00)00067-8. PMID 11369436.
- ^ a b c Lehre KP, Levy LM, Ottersen OP, Storm-Mathisen J, Danbolt NC (1995). "Differential expression of two glial glutamate transporters in the rat brain: quantitative and immunocytochemical observations". J Neurosci 15 (3): 1835–53. PMID 7891138.
- ^ a b Furness DN, Dehnes Y, Akhtar AQ, Rossi DJ, Hamann M, Grutle NJ, Gundersen V, Holmseth S, Lehre KP, Ullensvang K, Wojewodzic M, Zhou Y, Attwell D, Danbolt NC (2008). "A quantitative assessment of glutamate uptake into hippocampal synaptic terminals and astrocytes: new insights into a neuronal role for excitatory amino acid transporter 2 (EAAT2)". Neuroscience 157 (1): 80–94. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.08.043. PMID 18805467.
- ^ Anderson CM, Swanson RA (2000). "Astrocyte glutamate transport: review of properties, regulation, and physiological functions". Glia 32 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1002/1098-1136(200010)32:1. PMID 10975906.
- ^ a b Holmseth S, Dehnes Y, Huang YH, Follin-Arbelet VV, Grutle NJ, Mylonakou MN, Plachez C, Zhou Y, Furness DN, Bergles DE, Lehre KP, Danbolt NC (2012). "The density of EAAC1 (EAAT3) glutamate transporters expressed by neurons in the mammalian CNS". J Neurosci 32 (17): 6000–13. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5347-11.2012. PMID 22539860.
- ^ Pow DV, Barnett NL (2000). "Developmental expression of excitatory amino acid transporter 5: a photoreceptor and bipolar cell glutamate transporter in rat retina". Neurosci. Lett. 280 (1): 21–4. doi:10.1016/S0304-3940(99)00988-X. PMID 10696802.
- ^ Pow DV, Robinson SR (1994). "Glutamate in some retinal neurons is derived solely from glia". Neuroscience 60 (2): 355–66. doi:10.1016/0306-4522(94)90249-6. PMID 7915410.
- ^ Holmseth S, Scott HA, Real K, Lehre KP, Leergaard TB, Bjaalie JG, Danbolt NC (2009). "The concentrations and distributions of three C-terminal variants of the GLT1 (EAAT2; slc1a2) glutamate transporter protein in rat brain tissue suggest differential regulation". Neuroscience 162 (4): 1055–71. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.03.048. PMID 19328838.
- ^ Shachnai L, Shimamoto K, Kanner BI (2005). "Sulfhydryl modification of cysteine mutants of a neuronal glutamate transporter reveals an inverse relationship between sodium dependent conformational changes and the glutamate-gated anion conductance". Neuropharmacology 49 (6): 862–71. doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2005.07.005. PMID 16137722.
- ^ Naito S, Ueda T (January 1983). "Adenosine triphosphate-dependent uptake of glutamate into protein I-associated synaptic vesicles". J. Biol. Chem. 258 (2): 696–9. PMID 6130088.
- ^ Miyaji T, Echigo N, Hiasa M, Senoh S, Omote H, Moriyama Y (August 2008). "Identification of a vesicular aspartate transporter". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105 (33): 11720–4. doi:10.1073/pnas.0804015105. PMC 2575331. PMID 18695252.
- ^ Kim AH, Kerchner GA, Choi DW (2002). "Chapter 1, Blocking Excitotoxicity". In Marcoux, Frank W. CNS neuroprotection. Berlin: Springer. pp. 3–36. ISBN 3-540-42412-1.
- ^ a b Yi JH, Hazell AS (2006). "Excitotoxic mechanisms and the role of astrocytic glutamate transporters in traumatic brain injury". Neurochem. Int. 48 (5): 394–403. doi:10.1016/j.neuint.2005.12.001. PMID 16473439.
External links
- Glutamate Transporter at the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
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Membrane transport protein: neurotransmitter transporters (TC 2.A.1.2)
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| Vesicular |
- Vesicular monoamine
- VMAT1
- VMAT2- Vesicular acetylcholine
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| Other |
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anat (h / r / t / c / b / l / s / a)
- phys (r)
- devp
- prot
- nttm (nttr)
- ntrp
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- noco / auto / cong / tumr
- sysi / epon
- injr
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Membrane proteins, carrier proteins: membrane transport proteins solute carrier (TC 2A)
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Ion pumps
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| Symporter, Cotransporter |
- Na+/K+,l-
- Na/Pi3
- Na+/Cl-
- Na/glucose
- Na+/I-
- Cl-/K+
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| Antiporter (exchanger) |
- Na+/H+
- Na+/Ca2+
- Na+/(Ca2+-K+) - Cl-/HCO3- (Band 3)
- Cl-formate exchanger
- Cl-oxalate exchanger
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see also solute carrier disorders
B memb: cead, trns (1A, 1C, 1F, 2A, 3A1, 3A2-3, 3D), other
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