Striatal dopamine transmission underlies numerous goal-directed behaviors. Medium spiny neurons (MSNs) are a major target of dopamine in the striatum. However, as dopamine does not directly evoke a synaptic event in MSNs, the time course of dopamine signaling in these cells remains unclear. To examine how dopamine release activates D2-receptors on MSNs, G protein activated inwardly rectifying p...

On most adrenergic and cholinergic nerve terminals, prejunctional α-adrenoceptors belonging to the α2-subtype have been identified. Activation of these receptors will decrease the release of norepinephrine. It has been reported that several isolated tissue preparations contain prejunctional dopamine receptors, the stimulation of which inhibits neurotransmission. It has remained uncertain whethe...

Dopamine receptor D2, also known asD2R, is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the DRD2 gene.The dopamine D2 receptor was discovered in 1975 by Philip Seeman who had named it as the antipsychotic/dopamine receptor [1] The dopamine D2 receptor is the main receptor for all antipsychotic drugs. Any drug that does not interfere with dopamine action at the D2 receptor does not have an antipsych...

Rats were treated for 21 d with the selective D1 dopamine receptor antagonist SCH23390, the selective D2 dopamine receptor antagonist spiperone, the nonselective dopamine receptor antagonist cis-flupentixol, or a combination of SCH23390 and spiperone. In addition, a group of rats received L-prolyl-L-leucyl-glycinamide (PLG) for 5 d after the 21 d chronic spiperone treatment. Chronic treatment w...

We have used a yeast two-hybrid approach to uncover protein interactions involving the D2-like subfamily of dopamine receptors. Using the third intracellular loop of the D2S and D3 dopamine receptors as bait to screen a human brain cDNA library, we identified filamin A (FLN-A) as a protein that interacts with both the D2 and D3 subtypes. The interaction with FLN-A was specific for the D2 and D3...

The somatodendritic release of dopamine within the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra pars compacta activates inhibitory postsynaptic D2-receptors on dopaminergic neurons. The proposed mechanisms that regulate this form of transmission differ between electrochemical studies using rats and guinea pigs and electrophysiological studies using mice. This study examines the release and...

Antisera have been raised against two peptides from the sequence of D2 dopamine receptors: peptide 1 from the predicted second extracellular loop and peptide 2 from the predicted third intracellular loop. The antisera recognize specifically a 95 kDa band in Western blots of several bovine brain regions, which corresponds to the denatured D2 dopamine receptor, whereas in recombinant CHO cells ex...

BACKGROUND Cigarette smoking induces dopamine release in the striatum, and smoking- or nicotine-induced ventral striatal dopamine release is correlated with nicotine dependence. Smokers also exhibit lower dopamine D2/3 receptor availability in the dorsal striatum than nonsmokers. Negative correlations of striatal dopamine D2/3 receptor availability with smoking exposure and nicotine dependence,...

BACKGROUND The cerebral mechanisms underlying the behaviours that lead to pathological overeating and obesity are poorly understood. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter that modulates rewarding properties of food, is likely to be involved. To test the hypothesis that obese individuals have abnormalities in brain dopamine activity we measured the availability of dopamine D2 receptors in brain. METHOD...

Agonist stimulated [S]guanosine 5¢-c-thiotriphosphate ([S]GTPcS) binding autoradiography was established for the examination of dopamine-D2 ⁄D3 receptors in human brain sections. The distribution of G proteins activated by dopamine-D2 ⁄D3 receptors was studied in whole hemisphere cryosections. Dopamine stimulated [S]GTPcS binding in brain regions with high densities of dopamine D2-like receptor...