Brain uptake of glutamate: food for thought.

Glutamate transporters in cells of the central nervous system play a key role, not only in providing glutamate for metabolic and protein synthesis purposes, but also in terminating glutamate's synaptic actions and keeping the extracellular glutamate concentration below levels that cause neuronal death. Recent advances in our understanding of how glutamate transport is powered allow a prediction of how glutamate transport will fail in stroke, releasing excess glutamate that triggers the death of neurons, thereby causing mental and physical handicap.