It was suggested that glutamate concentration at the synaptic terminal of the cones was controlled primarily by a voltage-dependent glutamate transporter and that diffusion played a less important role. The conclusion was based on the observation that the rate of glutamate concentration during the hyperpolarizing light response was dramatically slowed when the transporter was blocked with dihyd...

Clearance of extracellular glutamate is essential for limiting the activity of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) at excitatory synapses; however, the relative contribution of transporters found in neuronal and glial membranes to this uptake is poorly understood. Hippocampal interneurons located at the oriens-alveus border express mGluR1alpha, a metabotropic glutamate receptor that regul...

The transport of glutamate across the plasma membrane is coupled to the movement of cations (Na+, K+, and H+) that are necessary for glutamate uptake and transporter cycling as well as anions that are uncoupled from the flux of glutamate. Although the relationship between these coupled (stoichiometric) and uncoupled (anion) transporter currents is poorly understood, transporter-associated anion...

Efficient clearance of synaptically released glutamate from the extracellular space is an absolute requirement for maintaining information processing in the central nervous system. In the cerebellum, clearance of glutamate relies on uptake by Bergmann glial cells and Purkinje cells (PCs). Uptake by PCs can be monitored by recording the synaptic transport current (STC) mediated by the PC-specifi...

Wild type PC12 pheochromocytoma cells express a Na(+)-dependent norepinephrine transporter that operates in the uptake of catecholamines, including dopamine. This transporter is not expressed in two spontaneously occurring flat cell variants of PC12 or in two other flat cell variants whose phenotype was induced by expression of the Wnt-1 oncogene. However, each of the flat cell variants, includ...

Ribbon synapses formed between inner hair cells (IHCs) and afferent dendrites in the mammalian cochlea can sustain high rates of release, placing strong demands on glutamate clearance mechanisms. To investigate the role of transporters in glutamate removal at these synapses, we made whole-cell recordings from IHCs, afferent dendrites, and glial cells adjacent to IHCs [inner phalangeal cells (IP...

In the cochlea, afferent transmission between inner hair cells and auditory neurons is mediated by glutamate receptors. Glutamate transporters located near the synapse and in spiral ganglion neurons are thought to maintain low synaptic levels of glutamate. We analyzed three glutamate transporter blockers for their ability to alter the effects of glutamate, exogenously applied to the synapse via...

Deactivation of glutamatergic signaling in the brain is mediated by glutamate uptake into glia and neurons by glutamate transporters. Glutamate transporters are sodium-dependent proteins that putatively rely indirectly on Na,K-ATPases to generate ion gradients that drive transmitter uptake. Based on anatomical colocalization, mutual sodium dependency, and the inhibitory effects of the Na,K-ATPa...

PURPOSE This study tested the hypothesis that the function of the glutamate transporter in retinal Müller cells is compromised early in the course of diabetes by a mechanism involving oxidation. Dysfunction of this transporter, which removes glutamate from the extracellular space, may play a critical role in the disruption of glutamate homeostasis that occurs in the diabetic retina. Because glu...

Dihydrokainate, a glutamate transporter inhibitor, was previously found to be a useful modulator of antitumor activity of doxorubicin (DOX). Dihydrokainate prevented an efflux of DOX by inhibiting the uptake of glutamate by tumor cells. We examined the potential of glutamate transporter inhibitors as modulators of DOX activity. We observed a significant reduction in the uptake of glutamate by o...