Cloning and characterization of a glutamate transporter cDNA from human cerebellum.

The glutamate/aspartate transporters are essential for the elimination and recycling of synaptic glutamate released from nerve endings during neurotransmission. Evidence suggests that these processes are altered in ischemia and neuronal degenerations linked to excitotoxicity. We screened a cDNA library constructed from human cerebellar mRNA, and isolated a cDNA that shows an 88.5% and a 98.7% sequence similarity at the nucleotide and amino acid level, respectively, with a rat brain specific Na(+)-dependent glutamate/aspartate transporter. The human cDNA is expressed in brain and it may prove useful in the study of human neurodegenerations linked to glutamate dysfunction.