Summary
Following interruption of the nerve impulse flow in the dopamine neurons by treatment with gammabutyrolactone, the selective dopamine autoreceptor agonist B-HT 920 reduced the DOPA accumulation after DOPA decarboxylase inhibition and the 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid concentration in the corpus striatum, the nucleus accumbens, the olfactory tubercle, the limbic cortex and the rostral part of the cerebral cortex of rats. The effects were completely inhibited by the dopamine receptor antagonist haloperidol, indicating that they were caused by stimulation of dopamine autoreceptors. In the caudal part of the cerebral cortex and the cerebellum, B-HT 920 somewhat reduced the concentration of dihydroxyphenylacetic acid via a haloperidol-sensitive mechanism, suggesting that there are a few dopamine neurons with autoreceptors in these regions. No evidence was obtained for the presence of autoreceptors on the dopamine neurons in the hypothalamus. The gammabutyrolactone-induced elevation of the dopamine concentration was not reduced by B-HT 920 in any region, suggesting that this effect of gammabutyrolactone was caused by decreased release rather than increased synthesis of dopamine under our experimental circumstances.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andén, N.-E., Gołembiowska-Nikitin, K., Thornström, U. Selective stimulation of dopamine and noradrenaline autoreceptors by B-HT 920 and B-HT 933, respectively. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol.321, 100–104 (1982).
Andén, N.-E., Grabowska-Andén, M., Liljenberg, B. On the presence of autoreceptors on dopamine neurons in different brain regions. J. Neural Transmission57, 129–137 (1983 a).
Andén, N.-E., Grabowska-Andén, M., Lindgren, S., Thornström, U. Synthesis rate of dopamine: difference between corpus striatum and limbic system as a possible explanation of variations in reactions to drugs. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol.323, 193–198 (1983 b).
Andén, N.-E., Magnusson, T., Stock, G. Effects of drugs influencing monoamine mechanisms on the increase in brain dopamine produced by axotomy or treatment with gammahydroxybutyric acid. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol.278, 363–372 (1973).
Andén, N.-E., Nilsson, H., Ros, E., Thornström, U. Effects of B-HT 920 and B-HT 933 on dopamine and noradrenaline autoreceptors in the rat brain. Acta Pharmacol. Toxicol.52, 51–56 (1983 c).
Bannon, M. J., Michaud, R. L., Roth, R. H. Mesocortical dopamine neurons: lack of autoreceptors modulating dopamine synthesis. Mol. Pharmacol.19, 270–275 (1981).
Bannon, M. J., Reinhard jr., J. F., Bunney, E. B., Roth, R. H. Unique response to antipsychotic drugs is due to absence of terminal autoreceptors in mesocortical dopamine neurons. Nature296, 444–446 (1982).
Carlsson, A.: Dopamine receptor agonists: past, present and future. In: Symposium on dopamine receptor agonists (Carlsson, A., Nilsson, J. L. G., eds.). Acta Pharmaceut. Suec, Suppl.1, 11–15 (1983).
Carlsson, A., Davis, J. N., Kehr, W., Lindqvist, M., Atack, C. V. Simultaneous measurement of tyrosine and tryptophan hydroxylase activities in brainin vivo using an inhibitor of the aromatic amino acid decarboxylase. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol.275, 153–168 (1972).
Demarest, K. T., Moore, K. E. Comparison of dopamine synthesis regulation in the terminals of nigrostriatal, mesolimbic, tuberoinfundibular and tuberohypophyseal neurons. J. Neural Transmission46, 263–277 (1979).
Felice, L. J., Felice, J. D., Kissinger, P. T. Determination of catecholamines in rat brain parts by reverse-phase ion-pair liquid chromatography. J. Neurochem.31, 1461–1465 (1978).
Fuxe, K. Cellular localization of monoamines in the median eminence and infundibular stem of some mammals. Acta Physiol. Scand.58, 383–384 (1963).
Fuxe, K., Hillarp, N.-Å. Uptake of L-dopa and noradrenaline by central catecholamine neurons. Life Sci.3, 1403–1406 (1964).
Gudelsky, G. A., Moore, K. E. Differential drug effects on dopamine concentrations and rates of turnover in the median eminence, olfactory tubercle and corpus striatum. J. Neural Transmission38, 95–105 (1976).
Handforth, A., Sourkes, T. L. Inhibition by dopamine agonists of dopamine accumulation followingγ-hydroxybutyrate treatment. Eur. J. Pharmacol.34, 311–319 (1975).
Moore, K. E., Wuerthele, S. M. Regulation of nigrostriatal and tuberoinfundibular-hypophyseal dopaminergic neurons. Progr. Neurobiol.13, 325–359 (1979).
Nauta, W. J. H., Smith, G. P., Faull, R. L. M., Domesick, V. B. Efferent connections and nigral afferents of the nucleus accumbens septi in the rat. Neuroscience3, 385–401 (1978).
Roth, R. H., Walters, J. R., Aghajanian, G. K. Effect of impulse flow on the release and synthesis of dopamine in the rat striatum. In: Frontiers in Catecholamine Research (Usdin, E., Snyder, S. H., eds.), pp. 567–574. New York: Pergamon Press. 1973.
Umezo, K., Moore, K. E. Effects of drugs on regional brain concentrations of dopamine and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther.208, 49–56 (1979).
Walters, J. R., Roth, R. H. Dopaminergic neurons: drug-induced antagonism of the increase in tyrosine hydroxylase activity produced by cessation of impulse flow. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther.191, 82–91 (1974).
Walters, J. R., Roth, R. H. Dopaminergic neurons: anin vivo system for measuring drug interactions with presynaptic receptors. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol.296, 5–14 (1976).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Andén, N.E., Grabowska-Andén, M. & Liljenberg, B. Demonstration of autoreceptors on dopamine neurons in different brain regions of rats treated with gammabutyrolactone. J. Neural Transmission 58, 143–152 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01252801
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01252801