Glutamate-dopamine interactions mediate the effects of psychostimulant drugs

The striatum, a major central nervous system structure,modulating movement, is enriched with glutamatergic and dopaminergic innervation. By altering a ctivities of both glutamatergic and dopaminergic transmissions the psychost imulants, amphetamine and cocaine, induce behavioral changes in experimenta l animals. Activation of the two systems is also Essential ill the mediatio n of drug-stimulated gene expression in striatal neutrons, which is conside red to be an important component of the neuroplasticity underlying long-ter m profiles of stimulant use. Interactions between the two systems occur at multiple levels that determine the final outcome of drug stimulation. Emerg ing studies on the detailed transsynaptic and intracellular mechanisms of g lutamate-dopamine interactions in response to stimulant explosive are provi ding cellular and molecular insight into the pathophysiology of stimulant a buse.