Increased dopamine uptake in striatal synaptosomes after treatment of rats with amantadine

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of short- and long-term treatments with amantadine on the activity of the neuronal dopamine transporter (DAT) in the rat striatum. For this purpose, the [3H]dopamine uptake was measured in striatal synaptosomes prepared from rats treated for 2, 7 and 14 days with amantadine (40 mg/kg; i.p.). After 7 days of treatment, amantadine increased the apparent V(max) by 30% without modification of the apparent K(m) of dopamine uptake whereas no change in these parameters was observed after 2 and 14 days treatment. Binding assays conducted with [3H]GBR-12935 on membranes prepared from animals treated with amantadine revealed no difference in the density and the affinity of striatal DAT binding sites as compared to control. This indicates that the increased dopamine uptake was not reflecting a modification at the level of the DAT expression. The activity of the DAT is regulated by phosphorylation and one may propose that ionotropic glutamate receptors present on presynaptic terminals directly modulate this phosphorylation. An indirect mechanism would involve presynaptic dopamine receptors that control the activity of the DAT in response to the increased dopamine concentration in the synaptic cleft.