Fig. 2. Schematic depiction of the main channels and transporters that have been implicated in facilitating cerebral edema and excitotoxicity during moderate and severe acute brain injuries.

Arrows indicate the direction of transport. Note that KCC2 and NCX are more likely to operate in their reverse modes under conditions of moderate and severe injury, and ClC direction of rectification varies between family members. The respective expression of these channels and transporters depends on the cell type and stages of cerebral edema. Figure created with BioRender.com.