title: Evidence for dopamine D2 receptor mRNA expression by striatal astrocytes in culture: in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction studies.
abstract: The expression of dopamine D2 receptor mRNA in cultured rat striatal and cerebellar astrocytes was examined by in situ hybridization (ISH) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Cells double-labelled for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immuno-histochemistry and dopamine D2 receptor mRNA (ISH) provide evidence that striatal but not cerebellar astrocytes express the dopamine D2 gene in vitro. These results were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction studies. As judged by GFAP immunostaining and morphology of the cells, this gene is almost exclusively expressed by astrocytes type 1. The expression of dopamine D2 receptor mRNA by striatal astrocytes in vitro, as found in this study, brings thus evidences for the existence of dopamine D2 receptors in such glial cells. This had been previously suggested from ligand binding studies but the typical dopaminergic nature of the binding to striatal astrocytes was left questionable. Our results with molecular biological techniques thus suggest that striatal dopamine might modulate the functions of striatal astrocytes.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U318 Neurobiologie Préclinique et Université J. Fourier, Département des Neurosciences Cliniques et Biologiques, CHU de Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bal
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bachelot
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Savasta
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manier
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Verna
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Benabid
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Feuerstein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015415:Biomarkers; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000032:analysis; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / Q000032:analysis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase