Editorial: The known, the unknown, and the future of glutamate transporters

• Published in: Frontiers in cellular neuroscience 2022-08, Vol.16, p.1005834-1005834
• Main Authors: Martinez-Lozada, Zila, Hewett, Sandra J., Zafra, Francisco, Ortega, Arturo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Blood flow; Brain research; Cellular Neuroscience; Conflicts of interest; excitatory amino acid transporter (EAAT); Excitatory amino acid transporter 2; Fibroblasts; glutamate; glutamate transport; Homeostasis; Nervous system; Overexpression; Physiology; Proteins; system xc; vesicular glutamate transport proteins
• ISSN: 1662-5102; 1662-5102
• DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2022.1005834

[...]maintenance of the glutamate extracellular concentration involves tight control of its release and uptake. [...]the cystine/glutamate exchanger, also known as system x−c xc− , exports glutamate in exchange for cystine (Jabaudon et al., 1999; Warr et al., 1999; Featherstone and Shippy, 2008). Abnormalities in uptake and motor function were alleviated via over-expression of a C-terminal truncated EAAT2 protein (Hirschberg et al.). Because most of the glutamate clearance (80–90%) is mediated by astrocytic EAAT2/GLT-1, the function of GLT-1 in other cell types has remained largely unexplored. [...]the Robinson group used pharmacological inhibition of EAAT function to demonstrate their importance to arteriole patency (Jackson et al.), highlighting another important function of EAATs, which is to act as a bridge between local neuronal activity and increases in blood flow.