Excitatory Amino-acid Transporter

Excitatory Amino-acid Transporter

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 synapse into neuroglia and neurons.

The EAATs are membrane-bound secondary transporters that superficially resemble ion channels. 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. 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.

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.

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.