Figure 7.

Illustration shows a synapse at a dopaminergic neuron. The green terminal is the presynaptic terminal, and the orange terminal is the postsynaptic terminal. Dopamine molecules are created in the presynaptic neuron and transported into vesicles by vesicular monoamine transporters. These vesicles release the dopamine molecules into the synapse, where the dopamine can then interact with dopamine receptors (D1 and D2 receptors). The dopamine can then either be degraded by catechol-O-methyltransferase (not shown) or taken back up into the presynaptic neuron and recycled through the dopamine transporter. The dopamine transporter is the target of binding, allowing identification of dopaminergic neurons.