Glutamate transport is a primary mechanism for regulating extracellular levels of glutamate which subserves both neurotoxic and neurotropic roles in the developing brain. GLT1, the most abundant of the known high-affinity glutamate transporters, is found exclusively in astrocytes in the adult brain of several species, but we have recently identified neurons that transiently express GLT1 protein in the developing brain. We now demonstrate the development of cell type specificity of GLT1 at 60, 71, and 136 days gestation(d)(term=145d),(n=3). At 60 and 71 days of gestation, the neuronal microtubule-associated protein (MAP2) and GLT1 co-localize in a subset of subplate neurons. GLT1 also co-localizes with calbindin in Purkinje cells in the cerebellum and the expresion pattern has a novel distribution that appears to correspond to parasagital “zebrin” like bands. GLT1 expression simultaneously occurs in periventricular white matter, anterior commissure, and striatal white matter, dissipating by 136 d. GLT1 expression within astrocytes is developmentally regulated apprearing first in vimentin+ radial glia at 60 and 71 days and then switching to GFAP+ parenchymal and perivascular astrocytes at 136d. Expression of GLT1 in subsets of vimentin+ astrocytes persists in white matter, but not in cortex. These new findings of GLT1 expression within “zebrin” bands and axonal pathways suggest participation of GLT1 in topographic organization of the cerebellum and a transient neuronal function for GLT1 in developing brain. Additionally, GLT1 expression is highly plastic, being neither exclusively astrocytic nor uniformly expressed in astrocytes during brain development.