Amino acid neurotransmitters in the CNS. Relationships between net uptake and exchange in rat brain synaptosomes.

Carefully isolated, metabolically competent rat brain synaptosomes accumulate acidic amino acid neurotransmitters down to very low external levels. This supports the suggestion that nerve endings are involved in terminating transmission at the synapses and in maintaining low levels of these molecules in the external environment in the brain. At saturating levels of acidic amino acids, the rate of inward and outward movements of the Na+-amino acid complex (exchange) is much faster than the net uptake. The transmembrane gradients of aspartate and glutamate approach each other under all conditions explored which indicates that these two amino acids share the same transport system.