Table 2.

Overview of the nomenclature of plasma membrane glutamate transporters.

HUGO name	Other names
Excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAT1; slc1a3)	GLAST (63–65)
Excitatory amino acid transporter 2 (EAAT2; slc1a2)	GLT-1 (61, 65)
Excitatory amino acid transporter 3 (EAAT3; slc1a1)	EAAC1 (62, 65, 211)
Excitatory amino acid transporter 4 (EAAT4; slc1a6)	(66)
Excitatory amino acid transporter 5 (EAAT5; slc1a7)	(67)

Glutamate transporters do not belong to the slc6-family, but to the slc1-family (high-affinity glutamate and neutral amino acid transporter family). Although there are several proteins with ability to transport glutamate, the term “glutamate transporter” is usually used to describe the five “High-Affinity Glutamate Transporters” also called “Excitatory Amino Acid Transporters (EAATs).” The actual meanings of the acronyms (GLAST, glutamate–aspartate transporter; GLT-1, glutamate transporter; EAAC, excitatory amino acid carrier; EAAT, excitatory amino acid transporter) are not important, as they do not reflect functional differences among the transporters. The nomenclature used here is the one adopted by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (283).