Glutamate and aspartate are excitatory neurotransmitters that have been implicated in a number of pathologic states of the nervous system. Accumulation of extracellular excitatory amino acids can be cytotoxic and may also lower the seizure threshold in epilepsy. EAAT1 (SLC1A3) is a member of a family of high-affinity sodium-dependent transporter molecules that regulate neurotransmitter concentrations at the excitatory glutamatergic synapses of the mammalian central nervous system (Kirschner et al., 1994 [PubMed 8001975]).[supplied by OMIM