| Title | Partial agonist actions at dopamine D(2L) receptors are modified by co-transfection of D(3) receptors: Potential role of heterodimer formation. | | Author(s) | Maggio R, Novi F, Rossi M, Corsini GU, Millan MJ | | Institution | Department of Experimental Medicine, University of L'Aquila, Via Vetoi, Coppito 2, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy. | | Source | Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2008 Jun 25. | | Abstract | The effects of aripiprazole, S33592, bifeprunox, N-desmethylclozapine and preclamol acting as partial agonists on recombinant D(2L) and D(3) receptors expressed both separately and concomitantly in COS-7 cells are evaluated here. Aripiprazole, S33592, bifeprunox, N-desmethylclozapine and preclamol behave as partial agonists on D(2L) receptors coupled with adenylyl cyclase, but they behave as antagonists on co-expression of D(3) with D(2L) receptors. These data raise the intriguing hypothesis that antipsychotic actions of "partial agonists" such as aripiprazole may not reflect inefficient stimulation of D(2) and/or D(3) receptors but, by analogy with other antipsychotics, may instead represent a blockade of D(2)/D(3) heterodimers (and/or D(3) receptors) that are "weakly" coupled to transduction mechanisms postsynaptically of the dopaminergic pathway. | | Language | ENG | | Pub Type(s) | JOURNAL ARTICLE
| | PubMed ID | 18585083 |
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