Editorial [Hot Topic: Neurotransmitter Transporters Guest Editor: Dr. Anders A. Jensen ]

摘要

Neurotransmitter transporters can be divided into two types: the vesicular transporters mediating the uptake and storage of neurotransmitters in vesicles in the presynaptic terminal and two families of membrane-bound transporters responsible for the transport of neurotransmitters from the synaptic cleft back into the presynaptic terminal or glia cells. One of these families, the Na+/Cl--dependent transporters, contains transporters mediating the synaptic reuptake of the monoamines norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin and the major inhibitory neurotransmitters γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glycine, and other transporters in this family have creatine, taurine and proline as their substrates. The other transporter family consists of five Na+-dependent excitatory amino acid transporters responsible for the synaptic reuptake of glutamate, the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian CNS.