We provide insights into the sub-cellular distribution of glutamate transporters in astrocytes

What is it about?

In this work, we use experimental and modeling approaches to estimate the surface density of the glial glutamate transporters GLAST and GLT-1 in mouse hippocampal astrocytes. The results show that the surface density of glutamate transporters in hippocampal astrocytes is similar in 7–8 week old mice and rats. In mice, GLAST and GLT-1 reach their peak expression at*6 months of age. Their expression, however, varies widely across different sub-cellular compartments. These findings indicate that the identity of the sub-cellular compartment of an astrocyte in contact with a glutamatergic synapses, in addition to the extent of its synaptic coverage, is a main factor to limit glutamate spillover and receptor activation at a distance from the release site.

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Photo by Moritz Kindler on Unsplash

Photo by Moritz Kindler on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This work provide important information for understanding the role of astrocytes in extracellular glutamate uptake.