The dopamine transporter protein moves dopamine within nerve synapses, interrupting dopamine signals. Malfunctions can lead to psychological disorders. Genetic polymorphism can cause too many carrier proteins to be created, leading to a predisposition to disorders. Dopamine affects motivation, reward, attention, learning, movement, mood, and sleep. Drugs can block the transporter, leaving dopamine in the synapse. Some disorders result from a lack of dopamine, requiring other drugs to treat.
The dopamine transporter is a type of protein that actively transports the neurotransmitter dopamine within nerve synapses. When dopamine is moved from a synapse to a neuron, it is the dopamine transporter that is primarily responsible for performing this function. In this way, it effectively interrupts the dopamine signal being communicated to the neuron. For this reason, dopamine transporter malfunctions are blamed for contributing to several psychological disorders, including clinical depression, alcoholism, and bipolar disorder.
As is the case with all proteins, there is a certain specific place in the human genome that holds the code for the dopamine transporter protein. It is found on the fifth chromosome and can sometimes be subject to a condition called genetic polymorphism. This causes more carrier proteins to be created than would normally be healthy. Too much protein could cause dopamine to be eliminated prematurely from the synapses, which would constitute a genetic predisposition to disorders such as those described above.
Dopamine is one of the main neurotransmitters in the brain and is particularly crucial for feelings such as motivation and reward. Attention and learning are also affected, as are movement, mood and sleep. It’s easy to see how even a minor imbalance in the dopamine transporter can have significant repercussions in a person’s life. As a person ages, less dopamine is produced in the body’s cells. As dopamine levels decrease, levels of transporters also decrease proportionally, to compensate for this difference.
Different types of drugs can work to block the transporter from working as it normally would. Cocaine and amphetamines fall into this category, as do some drugs used as antidepressants, such as bupropion hydrochloride. All of these drugs reduce the rate at which dopamine is removed from the synapse, leaving it there to transmit signals again and again. The pleasurable sensations that all of these drugs bring is most likely a direct result of the way they affect neurotransmitters.
Some dopamine-related disorders result, not from overactivity of the dopamine transporter, but from a lack of dopamine itself. When given as a drug, dopamine affects the sympathetic nervous system in ways such as increasing heart rate, but in this form it cannot enter the brain across the blood-brain barrier. For this reason, other drugs that affect the transporter, or that otherwise supply dopamine, must be given to treat conditions related to a dopamine deficiency rather than a transporter surplus.
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