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Transporters in the nervous system are proteins that span the plasma membrane and are involved in movement of ions and molecules across the membrane. They include neurotransmitter transporters, which move neurotransmitters or their metabolites from the extracellular space into a neuron, and vesicular transporters, which are involved in filling synaptic vesicles.
Monoamines and neurotoxicants share a binding pocket in VMAT1 featuring polar sites for specificity and a wrist-and-fist shape for versatility, and monoamine enrichment in storage vesicles arises from dominant import via favoured lumenal-open transition of VMAT1 and protonation-precluded binding during its cytoplasmic-open transition.
The presence of sugar in the gut is signalled via the vagus nerve to neurons in the caudal nucleus of the solitary tract, which help to mediate the formation of the preference for sugar over sweeteners.
Restoring function of the K+/Cl– co-transporter KCC2 in spinal inhibitory interneurons spared after spinal cord injury helps the recovery of hindlimb function in mice.
