Cocaine, but not amphetamine, short term treatment elevates the density of rat brain vesicular monoamine transporter 2.
We compared the effect of 5 days D-amphetamine (5 mg/kg/day i.p.) and cocaine (15 mg/kg/day i.p.) administration on the vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) density in rat brain. VMAT2 expression was assessed by [(3)H]dihydrotetrabenazine high affinity binding. Cocaine administration led to significant increases in VMAT2 density in both prefrontal cortex (+40%, p < 0.01) and striatum (+23%, p < 0.05), while amphetamine did not affect VMAT2 expression. The upregulation of VMAT2 may serve as compensatory mechanism aimed to enhance the vesicular monoamine storage capacity.
Schwartz
K
K
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Nachman
R
R
Yossifoff
M
M
Sapir
R
R
Weizman
A
A
Rehavi
M
M
D000661:Amphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D003042:Cocaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D050493:Vesicular Monoamine Transport Proteins / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism
D015259:Dopamine Agents; C493454:Slc18a2 protein, rat; D050493:Vesicular Monoamine Transport Proteins; D000661:Amphetamine; D003042:Cocaine