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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.
Inhibition of the reuptake of these neurotransmitters increases their extracellular concentrations and, therefore, results in an increase in serotonergic, adrenergic, and dopaminergic neurotransmission. The naturally-occurring and potent SNDRI cocaine is widely used recreationally and often illegally for the euphoric effects it produces.
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.
Addictive stimuli have variable effects on dopamine receptors, depending on the particular stimulus. [58] According to one study, [59] cocaine, opioids like heroin, amphetamine, alcohol, and nicotine cause decreases in D 2 receptor quantity. A similar association has been linked to food addiction, with a low availability of dopamine receptors ...
A stimulant is an overarching term that covers many drugs including those that increase the activity of the central nervous system and the body, [5] drugs that are pleasurable and invigorating, or drugs that have sympathomimetic effects. [6]
Amphetamines have an effect on norepinephrine levels similar to that of cocaine in that they both increase NE levels in the brain. [29] Amphetamine-like drugs are substrates for monoamine transporters , include NET, that cause a reversal in the direction of neurotransmitter transport.
A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a synapse.The cell receiving the signal, or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell.
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 ...