Abstract
Direct protein interactions between the dopamine transporter and α-synuclein demonstrate that dopamine uptake function is modulated by α-synuclein. We report here that chronic cocaine abuse results in an increase in α-synuclein expression in the human striatum. Immunoblot analysis in the ventral putamen showed that α-synuclein protein was increased in striatal synaptosomes from cocaine users compared with age-matched drug-free controls. [3H]-Dopamine transporter uptake was increased in parallel with 2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-fluorophenyl)tropane binding to the dopamine transporter. The increase in α-synuclein protein was more marked in the ventromedial sectors of the striatum than in the dorsal caudate nucleus. These results demonstrate concomitant regulation of α-synuclein and dopamine transporter binding and function in human striatal synaptic terminals isolated from cocaine abusers. Overexpression of α-synuclein may play a role in cocaine-induced plasticity and regulation of dopamine synaptic tone.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1489-1493 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Neuroreport |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 13 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 8 2005 |
Keywords
- α-Synuclein
- Cocaine
- Dopamine uptake
- Human
- Postmortem
- Striatum
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuroscience(all)