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The pharmacodynamics of cocaine involve the complex relationships of neurotransmitters (inhibiting monoamine uptake in rats with ratios of about: serotonin:dopamine = 2:3, serotonin:norepinephrine = 2:5). [110] [15] The most extensively studied effect of cocaine on the central nervous system is the blockade of the dopamine transporter protein.
Cocaine is a non-selective, competitive inhibitor of monoamine transporters, sharing a similar mechanism with that of methylphenidate. Cocaine interacts with DAT, SERT, and NET, although the behavioral and reinforcing effects of cocaine depend on its inhibition of DAT and the increase in extracellular dopamine.
Types of retinopathy caused by drug abuse include maculopathy, Saturday night retinopathy, and talc retinopathy. Common symptoms include temporary and permanent vision loss, blurred vision, and night blindness. Substances commonly associated with this condition include poppers, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, tobacco, and alcohol. [1]
The vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT) is a transport protein integrated into the membranes of synaptic vesicles of presynaptic neurons.It transports monoamine neurotransmitters – such as dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and histamine – into the vesicles, which release the neurotransmitters into synapses, as chemical messages to postsynaptic neurons.
Cocaine is a nonselective, reuptake inhibitor of the norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine transporters. This thwarts the absorption of these chemicals into the presynaptic terminal [ 27 ] and allows a large concentration of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine to build up in the synaptic cleft.
Cocaine addiction results from complex molecular changes in the brain following multiple exposures to cocaine. [16] Dynorphins have been shown to be an important part of this process. Although a single exposure to cocaine does not affect brain dynorphin levels, repeated exposures to the drug increases dynorphin concentrations in the striatum ...
Cocaine alters one's state of consciousness. Cocaine affects the neurotransmitters that nerves use to communicate with each other. Cocaine inhibits the reuptake of norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, and other neurotransmitters in the synapse, resulting in an altered state of consciousness or a "high" (Aldridge, D., & Fachner, J. ö. 2005).
An implicit premise in neuropsychopharmacology with regard to the psychological aspects is that all states of mind, including both normal and drug-induced altered states, and diseases involving mental or cognitive dysfunction, have a neurochemical basis at the fundamental level, and certain circuit pathways in the central nervous system at a higher level.