Discriminative stimulus properties of the putative dopamine D3 receptor agonist, (+)-PD 128907: role of presynaptic dopamine D2 autoreceptors.
The putative D3 receptor agonist, (+)-PD 128907, is widely used to study the functional relevance of D3 receptors in vivo. Given that non-selective D2/3/4 receptor agonists serve as effective discriminative stimuli in rats we have trained animals to discriminate (+)-PD 128907 (30 microg kg(-1), s.c.) from saline and examined the pharmacological specificity of the response. Consistent with a D3 receptor mediated response, the non-selective D2/3 receptor agonist apomorphine and the D3 preferring agonists 7-OH-DPAT and (-) quinpirole generalised to the cue whilst the D2/3 receptor antagonists haloperidol, raclopride, spiperone and (+)-butaclamol antagonised drug lever responding. In contrast, the D1 selective agonist (+/-)-SKF 81297 and D1/5 selective antagonist, R-(+)-SCH 23390 had no effect. Results also suggest that presynaptic dopamine receptors are involved. Thus the dopamine depleting agent alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine potentiated the effects of a submaximal dose of (+)-PD 128907 whereas amphetamine failed to generalise per se and blocked (+)-PD 128907 lever selection. However, studies using subtype selective antagonists argue against a role for the D3 receptor. Thus the 10-fold selective D2 receptor antagonist L-741,626 blocked the (+)-PD 128907 discriminative stimulus whereas L-745,829 and GR 103,691, antagonists > 40 and > 100-fold selective for D3 receptors, failed to modify the response. These results suggest that presynaptic D2 receptors mediate the discriminative stimulus properties of (+)-PD 128907 and highlight the lack of selectivity of (+)-PD 128907 for D3 receptors in vivo.
Merck, Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories, Neuroscience Research Centre, Harlow, Essex, UK. Linda_Bristow@merck.com
L J
LJ
Bristow
G P
GP
Cook
S
S
Patel
N
N
Curtis
I
I
Mawer
J J
JJ
Kulagowski
D000818:Animals; D001578:Benzopyrans / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D010078:Oxazines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2 / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D050637:Receptors, Dopamine D3
D001578:Benzopyrans; D018491:Dopamine Agonists; C493595:Drd3 protein, rat; D010078:Oxazines; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2; D050637:Receptors, Dopamine D3; C062458:3,4,4a,10b-tetrahydro-4-propyl-2H,5H-(1)benzopyrano(4,3-b)-1,4-oxazin-9-ol