Further evidence that amphetamines produce long-lasting dopamine neurochemical deficits by destroying dopamine nerve fibers.
Methamphetamine and amphetamine were continuously administered to rats for 3 days by means of subcutaneously implanted osmotic minipumps. The total daily dose of each drug was approximately 4 mg/day. Dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin determinations two weeks later indicated that both amphetamines produced a selective striatal dopamine depletion. Anatomical studies indicated that this depletion was associated with striatal nerve fiber degeneration. To determine whether this fiber degeneration induced by amphetamines was dopaminergic, the long-lasting dopamine depletion produced by methamphetamine was antagonized with alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine. This prevented the appearance of nerve fiber degeneration after methamphetamine. These findings suggest that amphetamines produce a long-term striatal dopamine depletion by destroying striatal dopamine nerve fibers.
D000661:Amphetamine / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D008297:Male; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000633:toxicity*; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000187:drug effects*; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000187:drug effects*
D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; D008694:Methamphetamine; D000661:Amphetamine; D004298:Dopamine