Vesicular monoamine transporter

The vesicular monoamine transporter is a transport protein located within the presynaptic cell.

It comprises the two isoforms:

• VMAT1
• VMAT2

Substrates for the transporter is mainly noradrenaline, adrenaline and isoprenaline. However, other substrates include dopamine, 5-HT, guanethidine and MPP+.^[1]

It can be inhibited by reserpine and tetrabenazine.^[1]

VMAT is the main target of methamphetamine. By acting as a competitive antagonist, methamphetamine blocks the presynaptic cell’s ability to use VMAT to package the above mentioned neurotransmitters into vesicles. The result is increased neurotransimtter release that is not dependent on the phasic activity of the presynaptic cell.

• Kilbourn MR (1997). “In vivo radiotracers for vesicular neurotransmitter transporters”. Nucl. Med. Biol. 24 (7): 615–9. PMID 9352531.

• Weihe E, Eiden LE (2000). “Chemical neuroanatomy of the vesicular amine transporters”. FASEB J. 14 (15): 2435–49. doi:10.1096/fj.00-0202rev. PMID 11099461.

• Vesicular+Monoamine+Transport+Proteins at the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

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