Parkinsonism, a common unwanted side effect of typical antipsychotic (neuroleptic) drugs, is induced by the blockade of striatal dopamine D2 receptors. In rats with hemi-parkinsonism induced by unilateral lesion of dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons with 6-hydroxydopamine, D2 antagonists inhibit contralateral turning induced by D2 agonists and augment the levels of neurotensin mRNA in dopaminer...

We report a class of potent and selective dopamine D3 receptor antagonists based upon tranylcypromine. Although tranylcypromine has a low affinity for the rat D3 receptor (K(i) = 12.8 μM), our efforts have yielded (1R,2S)-11 (CJ-1882), which has K(i) values of 2.7 and 2.8 nM at the rat and human dopamine D3 receptors, respectively, and displays respective selectivities of >10000-fold and 223-fo...

The goldfish is one of the few animals exceptionally well analyzed in behavioral experiments and also in electrophysiological and neuroanatomical investigations of the retina. To get insight into the functional organization of the retina we studied color vision, motion detection and temporal resolution before and after intra-ocular injection of neuropharmaca with known effects on retinal neuron...

The ability of tiapride, a selective D2/D3 dopamine receptor antagonist, to exert discriminative stimulus control of responding was investigated by training rats to discriminate this drug (30 mg/kg) from saline in a two-lever, food-reinforcement procedure. Acquisition of tiapride discrimination required a relatively lengthy training period (mean of 76 sessions) but stable performance was mainta...

Suggestions to Contributors Tribute to Dr. Paul Lewis Munson 3 Agonist-induced Desensitization of the 3-Adrenergic Receptor-linked Adenylate Cyclase. T. KENDALL HARDEN 5 Behavioral and Pharmacological Aspects of Opioid Dependence: Mixed Agonist-Antagonists. WILLIAM L. WOOLVERTON AND CHARLES R. SCHUSTER 33 Pharmacology of Mesocortical Dopamine Neurons. MICHAEL J. BANNON AND ROBERT H. ROTH 53 Opi...

Corneal electroretinograms (ERGs) were recorded from anesthetized cats under scotopic conditions. We examined whether the scotopic threshold response (STR) of the ERG could be functionally distinguished from scotopic PII and a-wave using intravitreal application of neuroactive agents. We found that neurotransmitters with active sites on third order neurons had several different effects. Results...

Research has shown that the same doses of a dopamine antagonist that cause de suppression of lever pressing for a preferred meal, facilitate the consumption of another non-preferred meal freely available in the choice situation. This finding suggests that dopamine antagonists change the organism’s preferences in favor of alternatives that require less physical effort. These ideas were assessed ...

The presynaptic control of dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) by glutamate and acetylcholine has a profound impact on reward signaling. Here we provide immunocytochemical and neurochemical evidence supporting the co-localization and functional interaction between nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors in dopaminergic terminals of th...

There is a large body of literature showing that prolactin (PRL) exerts growth-promoting activities in breast cancer, and possibly in prostate cancer and prostate hyperplasia. In addition, increasing evidence argues for the involvement of locally produced (autocrine) PRL, perhaps even more than pituitary-secreted (endocrine) PRL, in tumor growth. Because dopamine analogs are unable to inhibit P...

Sigma receptors are located in limbic areas, including the nucleus accumbens, where increased dopamine levels have been linked to psychosis and reinforcement. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) has been named as a possible endogenous ligand for a subpopulation of sigma receptors on the basis of its ability to compete for sigma receptor binding. Using a superfusion system, we found that NPY enhanced N-methyl-...