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. 2011 Jul 1;34(7):845–858. doi: 10.5665/SLEEP.1112

Figure 2.

Figure 2

A prototypical dopamine synapse. Under normal conditions, action potentials in a DA nerve terminal cause DA-filled vesicles to fuse with the presynaptic membrane, and DA is released into the synaptic cleft where it can bind to postsynaptic DA receptors. DA is removed from the synaptic cleft primarily by the DA transporter (DAT). Once DA is back inside the presynaptic terminal, it is repackaged into synaptic vesicles for future release via the vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT). Amphetamines increase the synaptic concentration of DA through two main mechanisms: Amphetamines interfere with the reuptake of DA through the DAT, and they disrupt vesicular packaging of DA which increases cytosolic levels of DA which can then leak out through the DAT via reverse transport.