title: Is Aspartate an Excitatory Neurotransmitter?
abstract: Recent evidence has resurrected the idea that the amino acid aspartate, a selective NMDA receptor agonist, is a neurotransmitter. Using a mouse that lacks the glutamate-selective vesicular transporter VGLUT1, we find that glutamate alone fully accounts for the activation of NMDA receptors at excitatory synapses in the hippocampus. This excludes a role for aspartate and, by extension, a recently proposed role for the sialic acid transporter sialin in excitatory transmission.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It has been proposed that the amino acid aspartate serves as a neurotransmitter. Although aspartate is a selective agonist for NMDA receptors, we find that glutamate alone fully accounts for neurotransmission at excitatory synapses in the hippocampus, excluding a role for aspartate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology.
authors.forename: Bruce E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Herring
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, and Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158.
authors.forename: Katlin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Silm
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, and Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158 roger.nicoll@ucsf.edu Robert.Edwards@ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Physiology, and roger.nicoll@ucsf.edu Robert.Edwards@ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Roger A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Nicoll
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D056547:CA1 Region, Hippocampal / Q000166:cytology; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D050598:Vesicular Glutamate Transport Protein 1 / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; C493465:Slc17a7 protein, mouse; D050598:Vesicular Glutamate Transport Protein 1; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid
keywords: VGLUT1; aspartate; glutamate; neurotransmitter; sialin