Organic Cation Transporter 1 (OCT1)

Polyspecific organic cation transporters in the liver, kidney, intestine, and other organs are critical for elimination of many endogenous small organic cations as well as a wide array of drugs and environmental toxins. SLC22A1 is one of three similar cation transporter genes located in a cluster on chromosome 6. The encoded protein contains twelve putative transmembrane domains and is a plasma integral membrane protein. Two transcript variants encoding two different isoforms have been found for this gene, but only the longer variant encodes a functional transporter. Widely expressed with high level in liver. Isoform 1 and isoform 2 are expressed in liver. Isoform 1, isoform 2, isoform 3 and isoform 4 are expressed in glial cell lines.