Electrogenic sodium-dependent amino acid transporter with a preference for L-glutamine, L-alanine, L-histidine, L-aspartate and L- arginine. May facilitate glutamine uptake in both excitatory and inhibitory neurons. The transport mechanism and stoichiometry remain to be elucidated. . This is the function of SLC38A8 (solute carrier family 38 member 8, Ensembl gene identifier ENSG00000166558).