Table 2.

Substrate docking studies showing the effects of Na⁺ on binding affinity in the EAAT3 homology models and the Glt_Ph X-ray crystal structures. (The HP2-loop occluded or open models were docked with l-glutamate and l-aspartate using the Gold software program and the structures were scored using ChemScore, where higher ChemScore values reflect better fitness for docked poses. All models contained either no Na⁺ ions or Na⁺ ions at site 1 (Na1), sites 1 and 2 (Na1+Na2), sites 1 and 3 (Na1+Na3) or sites 1, 2 and 3 (Na1+Na2+Na3).)

	ChemScore	ΔG (kJ mol−1)
EAAT3|l-glu|no Na|occluded	13.17	−17.08
EAAT3|l-glu|Na1|occluded	14.36	−18.01
EAAT3|l-glu|Na1+Na2|occluded	14.11	−17.83
EAAT3|l-glu|Na1+Na3|occluded	17.61	−26.20
EAAT3|l-glu|Na1+Na2+Na3|occluded	18.45	−27.00
GltPh|l-glu|Na1+Na2|occluded	14.74	−23.54
GltPh|l-glu|Na1+Na2+Na3|occluded	18.42	−26.35
GltPh|l-asp|Na1+Na2|occluded	20.68	−24.00
GltPh|l-asp|Na1+Na2+Na3|occluded	23.71	−28.00