| Modification Notes |
The sodium-coupled neutral amino acid transporters (SNAT) of the SLC38 gene family include system A subtypes SNAT1, SNAT2 and SNAT4 and system N subtypes SNAT3 and SNAT5. The SLC38 transporters are essential for the uptake of nutrients, energy production, metabolism, detoxification and the cycling of neurotransmitters. SNAT proteins are expressed in most mamalian tissues. SNAT5 is a neutral amino acid carrier structurally and mechanistically related to the SNAT3 transporter that participates in the glutamate-glutamine cycle in the brain and that mediates the efflux of glutamine from glial cells. It is expressed ubiquitously but distributed unevenly in the CNS, with highest accumulation in the neocortex, hippocampus, striatum and spinal cord, and moderate accumulation in the thalamus, hypothalamus and brainstem. |