Cocaine, but not amphetamine, short term treatment elevates the density of rat brain vesicular monoamine transporter 2

K. Schwartz, R. Nachman, M. Yossifoff, R. Sapir, A. Weizman, M. Rehavi*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

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 [3H]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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)427-430
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Neural Transmission
Volume114
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2007

Keywords

  • Amphetamine
  • Cocaine
  • Prefrontal cortex
  • Striatum
  • Vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2)

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