DAT

Dopamine transporter (DAT) is an important marker of presynaptic dopaminergic terminals. DAT is a dopamine transporter located on the presynaptic membrane of dopamine neurons, whose function is to release dopamine into the synaptic cleft through active transport and reuptake of presynaptic presynaptic, so as to guarantee normal physiological function of the synapse. It can be used to evaluate the functional status of dopaminergic nerve endings in the presynaptic striatum. The co-localization of dopamine transporters with tyrosin ehydroxylase (TH) and dopamine D2 receptors indicates that dopamine transporters are specifically expressed in dopaminergic neurons. In the brain, dopaminergic neurons are mainly distributed in the ventral midbrain and are projected into the striatum region and the prefrontal cortex. The distribution of dopamine transporters is similar, mainly in ventral midbrain, medial forebrain bundle, striatum, olfactory nodules, frontal cortex and cingulate cortex. As a result, like most membrane proteins, dopamine transporters are transported to golgi by synthesis on the endoplasmic reticulum, receiving translated modifications (such as glycosylation) before being transported to the membrane surface for functional purposes. Dopaminergic transporters on the membrane are also endocytosed into the cell under certain conditions, or the upper membrane is reactivated or transported to the lysosome to be degraded.