Front cover:
At excitatory synapses, glutamate is removed by glutamate transporters to turn off the signal and prevent excitotoxicity. Hyaluronan is synthesized, secreted, and anchored by hyaluronan synthases (HAS) at the plasma membrane. Cellular process localization of glutamate transporters is hyaluronan synthase dependent, while a major hyaluronan receptor CD44 is not necessary. Hyaluronan synthesized by hyaluronan synthase interacts with glutamate transporters and supports glutamate uptake. Our findings reveal that hyaluronan synthesis helps to turn off excitatory signals.
Image Content: Confocal microscopy image of an astrocyte in CD44 knockout mice primary culture. mEGFP‐labeled glutamate transporter GLT1 (green) localizes to astrocyte cellular processes. Lck‐mCherry labels cellular membrane (magenta).
Read the full article ‘Hyaluronan synthesis supports glutamate transporter activity’ by M. K. Hayashi, T. Nishioka, H. Shimizu, K. Takahashi, W. Kakegawa, T. Mikami, Y. Hirayama, S. Koizumi, S. Yoshida, M. Yuzaki, M. Tammi, Y. Sekino, K. Kaibuchi, Y. Shigemoto‐Mogami, M. Yasui, K. Sato (J. Neurochem. 2019, vol. 150 (3), pp. 249–263) on doi: 10.1111/jnc.14791