VMAT2
Encyclopedia
The vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) also known as solute carrier family 18 member 2 (SLC18A2) is a protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 that in humans is encoded by the SLC18A2 gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

. VMAT2 is an integral membrane protein
Integral membrane protein
An integral membrane protein is a protein molecule that is permanently attached to the biological membrane. Proteins that cross the membrane are surrounded by "annular" lipids, which are defined as lipids that are in direct contact with a membrane protein...

 that acts to transport monoamines—particularly neurotransmitter
Neurotransmitter
Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse. Neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles clustered beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to...

s such as dopamine
Dopamine
Dopamine is a catecholamine neurotransmitter present in a wide variety of animals, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. In the brain, this substituted phenethylamine functions as a neurotransmitter, activating the five known types of dopamine receptors—D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5—and their...

, norepinephrine
Norepinephrine
Norepinephrine is the US name for noradrenaline , a catecholamine with multiple roles including as a hormone and a neurotransmitter...

, serotonin
Serotonin
Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Biochemically derived from tryptophan, serotonin is primarily found in the gastrointestinal tract, platelets, and in the central nervous system of animals including humans...

, and histamine
Histamine
Histamine is an organic nitrogen compound involved in local immune responses as well as regulating physiological function in the gut and acting as a neurotransmitter. Histamine triggers the inflammatory response. As part of an immune response to foreign pathogens, histamine is produced by...

—from cellular cytosol
Cytosol
The cytosol or intracellular fluid is the liquid found inside cells, that is separated into compartments by membranes. For example, the mitochondrial matrix separates the mitochondrion into compartments....

 into synaptic vesicle
Synaptic vesicle
In a neuron, synaptic vesicles store various neurotransmitters that are released at the synapse. The release is regulated by a voltage-dependent calcium channel. Vesicles are essential for propagating nerve impulses between neurons and are constantly recreated by the cell...

s.

Binding sites and ligands

One binding site is that of dihydrotetrabenazine (DTBZ
Tetrabenazine
Tetrabenazine is a drug for the symptomatic treatment of hyperkinetic movement disorder and is marketed under the trade names Nitoman in Canada and Xenazine in New Zealand and some parts of Europe, and is also available in the USA as an orphan drug. On August 15, 2008 the U.S...

). Lobeline
Lobeline
Lobeline is a natural alkaloid found in "Indian tobacco" , "Devil's tobacco" , "cardinal flower" , "great lobelia" , and Hippobroma longiflora...

 binds at this site. Dextroamphetamine
Dextroamphetamine
Dextroamphetamine is a psychostimulant drug which is known to produce increased wakefulness and focus as well as decreased fatigue and decreased appetite....

 and dextromethamphetamine bind at distinct sites to the VMAT2, inhibiting its function. Although the amphetamines inhibit VMAT2 presynaptically leading to diminished neurotransmitter, the primary mechanism for the enhancement of extracellular monoamines, like dopamine, is reversal of the dopamine transporter
Dopamine transporter
The dopamine transporter is a membrane-spanning protein that pumps the neurotransmitter dopamine out of the synapse back into cytosol, from which other transporters sequester DA and NE into vesicles for later storage and release...

 (DAT).

Inhibition of VMAT2

VMAT2 is essential in the presynaptic neuron
Neuron
A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information by electrical and chemical signaling. Chemical signaling occurs via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons connect to each other to form networks. Neurons are the core components of the nervous...

's ability to facilitate the release of neurotransmitter
Neurotransmitter
Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse. Neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles clustered beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to...

s into the synaptic cleft
Chemical synapse
Chemical synapses are specialized junctions through which neurons signal to each other and to non-neuronal cells such as those in muscles or glands. Chemical synapses allow neurons to form circuits within the central nervous system. They are crucial to the biological computations that underlie...

. If VMAT2 function is inhibited or compromised, neurotransmitters, such as dopamine
Dopamine
Dopamine is a catecholamine neurotransmitter present in a wide variety of animals, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. In the brain, this substituted phenethylamine functions as a neurotransmitter, activating the five known types of dopamine receptors—D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5—and their...

, cannot be released via normal transport (exocytosis, action potential) into the synapse. VMAT2 function inhibition can have many various effects on neurotransmitter function, specifically, of importance is its effect on the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine, specifically, is highly neurotoxic to most cellular structures, due to its ability to auto-oxidize in the presence of oxygen radicals. Dopamine, and other neurotransmitters, are metabolized via various processes into various substances, by enzymes such as monoamine oxidase (MAO
Monoamine oxidase
L-Monoamine oxidases are a family of enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of monoamines. They are found bound to the outer membrane of mitochondria in most cell types in the body. The enzyme was originally discovered by Mary Bernheim in the liver and was named tyramine oxidase...

), catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT
Catechol-O-methyl transferase
Catechol-O-methyltransferase is one of several enzymes that degrade catecholamines such as dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. In humans, catechol-O-methyltransferase protein is encoded by the COMT gene...

), and dopamine beta hydroxylase (DBH
Dopamine beta hydroxylase
Dopamine β-hydroxylase is an enzyme that converts dopamine to norepinephrine.DBH is a 290 kDa copper-containing oxygenase consisting of four identical subunits, and its activity requires ascorbate as a cofactor...

). Vesicles normally protect dopamine from auto-oxidation and metabolism by monoamine oxidase and COMT. Impaired VMAT2 function/activity may contribute to symptoms of depression, anxiety, restless leg syndrome, akathisia, Parkinson's disease, social anxiety, and many other conditions, via inhibition of normal dopamine release into the synapse. Long-term use of amphetamine and methamphetamine causes long-lasting reductions in VMAT2 expression/activity, similar to chronic use of cocaine. This reduction of VMAT2 activity contributes significantly to the neurotoxic effects of amphetamine and methamphetamine. Cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

 users display a marked reduction in VMAT2 immunoreactivity. Sufferers of cocaine-induced mood disorders displayed a significant loss of VMAT2 immunoreactivity, this might reflect damage to dopamine axon terminals in the striatum
Striatum
The striatum, also known as the neostriatum or striate nucleus, is a subcortical part of the forebrain. It is the major input station of the basal ganglia system. The striatum, in turn, gets input from the cerebral cortex...

. These neuronal changes could play a role in causing disordered mood and motivational processes in more severely addicted
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...

 users.

VMAT2 function in mice

Mice bred without VMAT2 display marked depression and hypoactivity symptoms, and die within a few days of birth. Their brains exhibit a significant decrease of monoamine and catecholamine content, compared to wild-type mice. Depolarization does not normalize behavior in VMAT2-KO mice, compared to wild-type mice. Amphetamine, however, decreases the functional deficits caused by VMAT-deletion, indicating that monoamines/catecholamines, such as dopamine, are still present in the presynaptic cytoplasm, but not packaged into vesicles necessary for normal depolarization/exocytosis-induced release. In wild-type mice and humans, amphetamine inhibits VMAT2 function and reverses the dopamine transporter (DAT), causing the release of unprotected free cytoplasmic dopamine into the synaptic cleft. VMAT-2 deletion mimics the VMAT-2 inhibition caused by amphetamine, allowing amphetamine to simply reverse the DAT, releasing dopamine, and subsequently reducing functional deficits in VMAT2-KO mice. VMAT2-KO mice also display significantly increased neurotoxicity in response to amphetamine, due to the unprotected metabolism and auto-oxidation of dopamine in the presynaptic cytoplasm of dopamine neurons.

Spirituality hypothesis

Geneticist Dean Hamer
Dean Hamer
Dr. Dean Hamer is an American geneticist, author, and filmmaker. He is known for his contributions to biotechnology and AIDS prevention, his research on the genetics of human behavior including sexual orientation and spirituality, and his popular books and documentaries on a wide range of...

 has suggested that the VMAT2 gene correlates with spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...

 using data from a smoking survey, which included questions intended to measure "self-transcendence". Hamer performed the spirituality study on the side, independently of the National Cancer Institute
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...

smoking study. His findings were published in the mass-market book The God Gene: How Faith Is Hard-Wired Into Our Genes. However Hamer's claim that the VMAT2 gene contributes to spirituality is controversial. Hamer's study has not been published in the peer reviewed literature and the correlation is not statistically significant.
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