Combined Tat and morphine promotes structural and functional defects in dendrites via α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPAR), N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptors (NMDAR), and MOR, causing influxes of Na+ and/or Ca2+, compensatory increases in Na+/K+-dependent ATPase activity, and a rapid loss in ATP mobilization with an inability to extrude excess Na+ via Na+/K+-ATPase caused by mitochondrial hyperpolarization.