Fig. 1.

Representation of roles of EAAT2 in both preventing extracellular glutamate concentrations from reaching neurotoxic levels and in recycling glutamate at synapses, by transporting glutamate into astrocytes for conversion to glutamine. AMPAR, α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoazole-propionic acid receptor; AQP4, aquaporin 4; EAAT, excitatory amino acid transporter; Gln, glutamine; Glu, glutamate; KAR, kainate receptor; mGluR, metabotropic glutamate receptor; NMDAR, N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor; SAT, system A transporter; SN1, system N transporter.