Structural domains of chimeric dopamine-noradrenaline human transporters involved in the Na+ - and Cl- -dependence of dopamine transport

Catecholamine transporters constitute the biological targets for several im portant drugs, including antidepressants, cocaine, and related compounds. S ome information exists about discrete domains of these transporters that ar e involved in substrate translocation and uptake blockade, but delineation of domains mediating the ionic dependence of the transport remains to be de fined. In the present study, human neuronal transporters for dopamine and n oradrenaline (hDAT and hNET) and a series of six functional chimeras were t ransiently expressed in LLC-PK1 cells. Substitution of Cl- by isethionate r eveals that cassette IV (i.e., the region of the transporter encompassing t ransmembrane domain 9 through the COOH terminal) plays an important role in the Cl--dependence of the uptake. Substitutions of Na+ and NaCl by Tris(+) and sucrose, respectively, demonstrate that three different segments scatt ered across the transporter are involved in the Na+-dependence of the trans port activity: cassette I (i.e., the region from the amino terminus through the first two transmembrane domains), cassette IV, and junction between tr ansmembrane domains 3 to 5 and 6 to 8. Results of the present work also sug gest that the use of Tris(+) as a substitute for Na+ results in a biased es timate of the Hill number value for hDAT. This study provides useful clues for identifying specific residues involved in the uptake function of the ca techolamine transporters.