Voltage Clamp and Fluorometric Techniques for Studying Glutamate Transporter Function

Glutamate transporters can influence the time course of synaptically released glutamate and maintain low ambient extracellular glutamate levels by accumulating it in the cell against a large gradient. Understanding these physiological processes requires a knowledge of the transporters’ kinetics and structure-function relationships. In this chapter, we outline three methods - voltage clamp fluorometry, concentration jumps to outside-out patches, and computer modeling. These techniques provide a potentially powerful approach to study kinetics and the protein conformational changes during the transport cycle.