Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Commons^™

Macroscopic And Microscopic Properties Of A Cloned Glutamate Transporter/Chloride Channel, Jacques I. Wadiche, Michael Kavanaugh

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

The behavior of a Cl⁻ channel associated with a glutamate transporter was studied using intracellular and patch recording techniques in Xenopus oocytes injected with human EAAT1 cRNA. Channels could be activated by application of glutamate to either face of excised membrane patches. The channel exhibited strong selectivity for amphipathic anions and had a minimum pore diameter of ∼5Å. Glutamate flux exhibited a much greater temperature dependence than Cl⁻ flux. Stationary and nonstationary noise analysis was consistent with a sub-femtosiemen Cl⁻ conductance and a maximum channelP_o ≪ 1. The glutamate binding rate was similar to estimates …