Dopamine and gamma-aminobutyric acid transporters: differential regulation by agents that promote phosphorylation.

Treatment of striatal synaptosomes with the protein phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid significantly decreased gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) uptake, indicating that the GABA transporter may be regulated by phosphorylation. Forskolin and 8-bromoadenosine-3,5-cyclic monophosphate (8-br-cAMP) inhibited GABA uptake to the same extent as okadaic acid, suggesting the involvement of protein kinase A in GABA transporter regulation. In contrast, the same treatments did not alter dopamine (DA) uptake into striatal synaptosomal preparations. The results suggest that the structurally related GABA and DA transporters may be subject to different post-translational regulation.