The dopamine transporter (DAT) plays a key role in the regulation of dopaminergic signaling wherein it controls both the spatial and temporal actions of dopamine. Here we evaluated the behavioral and neurochemical consequences of increased DAT function by generating DAT transgenic mice (DAT-tg) that overexpress the transporter. These mice were generated by pronuclear injection of a bacterial artificial chromosome containing the mouse DAT locus, yielding an anatomical expression pattern of DAT-tg identical to WT. In DAT-tg mice there is a 3-fold increase in the levels of total and membrane-expressed DAT, but synaptic plasma membrane fractions of DAT-tg mice show only a 30% increase in transporter levels. Functional studies reveal that in the DAT-tg animals there is a 50% increase in the rate of dopamine (DA) uptake resulting in extracellular levels of DA that are decreased by Ϸ40%. Behaviorally, DAT-tg animals display similar locomotor stimulation when treated with DAT blockers such as GBR12909, methylphenidate, and cocaine. However, these mice demonstrate markedly increased locomotor responses to amphetamine compared with WT animals. Furthermore, compared with controls, there is a 3-fold greater increase in the amount of DA released by amphetamine in DAT-tg mice that correlates with the 3-fold increase in protein expression. Finally, DAT-tg animals show reduced operant responding for natural reward while displaying preference for amphetamine at much lower doses (0.2 and 0.5 mg/kg) than WT mice (2 mg/kg). These results suggest that overexpression of DAT leads to a marked increase in sensitivity to psychomotor and rewarding properties of amphetamine.bacterial artificial chromosome transgenic ͉ locomotion ͉ addiction ͉ ADHD D opamine (DA) is a key neurotransmitter regulating motivated behaviors such as food intake, locomotion, and reward, and its dysregulation is associated with a number of psychiatric and neurological disorders including schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, drug addiction, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and depression (1-3). A key step in the control of DA neurotransmission is the reuptake of DA into presynaptic neurons by the dopamine transporter (DAT) (4). DAT, as well as the serotonin transporter (SERT) and norepinephrine transporter (NET), belongs to the large family of Na ϩ /Cl Ϫ -dependent transporters that also includes the transporters for glycine and GABA (5, 6). These transporters comprise 12 transmembrane domains and intracellular N-and C-terminal domains. Once at the plasma membrane, DAT cotransports two Na ϩ , one Cl Ϫ , and one DA molecule from the extracellular space into the cytosolic compartment of the neuron.Much insight regarding how DAT affects DA homeostasis has been gained from the study of mice lacking the DAT (DAT knockout; DAT-KO) (4, 7). In these animals, there is a 5-fold increase in the extracellular concentration of DA (8). The crucial role of DAT in determining the duration of action of extracellular DA has also been demonstrated in these animals. Usi...