Abstract
The amino acid glycine acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter and as a co-agonist of the NMDA-receptor in mammalian spinal cord and brain. The termination of the action of glycine is mediated by rapid reuptake into the presynaptic terminal or surrounding glial cells. Two glycine transporters, GLYT1 and GLYT2, are known. They display distinct distributions and are members of the sodium/chloride-dependent transporter family, which share 40-50% amino acid similarity and are characterized by 12 putative transmembrane regions. Three glycine transporter variants of GLYT1 (GLYT1a, b, and c) were identified with distinct localizations in the CNS and peripheral tissues …