| First Author | Meabon JS | Year | 2012 |
| Journal | J Histochem Cytochem | Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 139-51 |
| PubMed ID | 22114258 | Mgi Jnum | J:191376 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5461613 | Doi | 10.1369/0022155411430095 |
| Citation | Meabon JS, et al. (2012) Differential expression of the glutamate transporter GLT-1 in pancreas. J Histochem Cytochem 60(2):139-51 |
| abstractText | The glutamate uptake transporter GLT-1 is best understood for its critical role in preventing brain seizures. Increasing evidence argues that GLT-1 also modulates, and is modulated by, metabolic processes that influence glucose homeostasis. To investigate further the potential role of GLT-1 in these regards, the authors examined GLT-1 expression in pancreas and found that mature multimeric GLT-1 protein is stably expressed in the pancreas of wild-type, but not GLT-1 knockout, mice. There are three primary functional carboxyl-terminus GLT-1 splice variants, called GLT-1a, b, and c. Brain and liver express all three variants; however, the pancreas expresses GLT-1a and GLT-1b but not GLT-1c. Quantitative real time-PCR further revealed that while GLT-1a is the predominant GLT-1 splice variant in brain and liver, GLT-1b is the most abundant splice variant expressed in pancreas. Confocal microscopy and immunohistochemistry showed that GLT-1a and GLT-1b are expressed in both islet beta- and alpha-cells. GLT-1b was also expressed in exocrine ductal domains. Finally, glutamine synthetase was coexpressed with GLT-1 in islets, which suggests that, as with liver and brain, one possible role of GLT-1 in the pancreas is to support glutamine synthesis. |
