Recent advances in the understanding of the interaction of antidepressant drugs with serotonin and norepinephrine transporters

The biogenic monoamine transporters are integral membrane proteins that perform active transport of extracellular dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine into cells. These transporters are targets for therapeutic agents such as antidepressants, as well as addictive substances such as cocaine and amphetamine. Seminal advances in the understanding of the structure and function of this transporter family have recently been accomplished by structural studies of a bacterial transporter, as well as medicinal chemistry and pharmacological studies of mammalian transporters. This feature article focuses on antidepressant drugs that act on the serotonin and/or the norepinephrine transporters. Specifically, we focus on structure–activity relationships of these drugs with emphasis on relationships between their molecular properties and the current knowledge of transporter structure.