Epigenetic Effects Induced by Methamphetamine and Methamphetamine-Dependent Oxidative Stress

Figure 1

The effects of METH on DA-storing vesicles. METH enters into DA terminals either through the plasma membrane DAT or via passive diffusion. Within the axoplasm, it targets DA-storing vesicles to (1) disrupt their proton gradient, (2) inhibit and revert VMAT-2, and (3) displace VMAT-2 elsewhere (i.e., trans-Golgi network). These effects disrupt the physiological storage of DA, which diffuses from vesicles to the axoplasm and from the axoplasm to the extracellular space.