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Dopamine D2 agonist priming in intact and dopamine-lesioned rats

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Abstract

Receptor priming is a recently discovered phenomenon by which receptor agonists produce abrupt and long-lived supersensitization of receptors. Induction of dopamine (DA) D2 receptor supersensitivity by the agonist quinpirole was discovered approximately 15 years ago, and was found to occur consistently if rats were treated repeatedly at daily or weekly or monthly intervals with low or high doses of quinpirole. In this review we summarize and discuss some of the major studies that underlie DA D2 receptor supersen-sitivity, describe behavioral processes that are known to be altered by DA D2 receptor supersensitivity, and discuss the importance of DA innervation on expression of enhanced behaviors. DA D2 receptor supersen-sitivity represents one of the neural mechanisms implicated in psychiatric disorders. Also, DA D2 receptor supersensitivity and increased DA D3 receptor expression are associated with motor dyskinesias, as in L-DOPA-treated Parkinson’s disease patients. An understanding of receptor priming, a knowledge of the types of behavioral expression associated with DA D2 receptor supersensitivity, and an understanding of mechanisms associated with receptor supersen-sitization, can lead to improvements in the treatments of psychiatric and neurological disorders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, 37614, Johnson City, TN, USA

    Richard M. Kostrzewa, John P. Kostrzewa & Rose Anna Kostrzewa

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Medical University of Silesia, 41-808, Zabrze, Poland

    Przemyslaw Nowak & Ryszard Brus

Authors
  1. Richard M. Kostrzewa
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  2. John P. Kostrzewa
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  3. Przemyslaw Nowak
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  4. Rose Anna Kostrzewa
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  5. Ryszard Brus
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Correspondence to Richard M. Kostrzewa.

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Kostrzewa, R.M., Kostrzewa, J.P., Nowak, P. et al. Dopamine D2 agonist priming in intact and dopamine-lesioned rats. neurotox res 6, 457–462 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03033281

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03033281

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