What's the difference between Cytoplasmic pool and Granular storage pool when speaking about neurotransmitters and synaptic cleft. I encountered this here:

Amphetamine’s mechanism of action thus depends on the cytoplasmic, newly synthesized, rapidly metabolized pool of dopamine. Methylphenidate’s mechanism of action depends on the granular storage pool (Brust, 2004)


Brust, J. C. M. (2004). Neurological aspects of substance abuse. Philadelphia, PA, Elsevier.


Neurotransmitters like dopamine are synthesized in the cytoplasm and then imported into synaptic vesicles. When the neurotransmitters are released it is by a fusion of the synaptic vesicle with the neuron's cell membrane, emptying the contents into the synaptic cleft. Re-uptake of the neurotransmitter back into the pre-synaptic neuron's cytoplasm is done by active transporters, in Dopamine's case by DAT. The cytoplasmic pool refers to the dopamine in the cytoplasm, while the granular pool refers to the dopamine stored in the synaptic vesicles.


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