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Notes: Summary 3H-Domperidone, a potent antagonist of dopamine but less lipophilic than neuroleptic drugs, was studied as a potential ligand for cerebral dopamine receptors. It labeled with high affinity an apparently homogeneous population of non-interacting sites in a particulate fraction of mouse striatum. Association occurred rapidly and dissociation was relatively slow (t1/2≃4min); this allowed extensive washing of membranes which reduced the non-specific binding to values as low as 5% of the total binding. Consistent Kd values of 0.7 nM were obtained by analysing by various methods either the kinetics of binding or the saturation of binding sites at equilibrium. The relative potencies of various dopamine receptor agonists or antagonists to inhibit 3H-domperidone binding, paralleled their pharmacological activity. On the other hand, a variety of non-dopaminergic agents failed to inhibit 3H-domperidone binding. The findings indicate that striatal dopamine receptors are selectively labeled by this 3H-ligand. In various non-striatal regions of mouse brain the saturable binding of 3H-domperidone was almost entirely inhibited by apomorphine indicating its selectivity for dopamine receptors in spite of the low density of the latter. This was not the case for the binding of 3H-spiperone, evaluated on the same preparations, indicating that 3H-domperidone probably represents the most selective ligand presently available.

Notes: Summary In order to document the hypothesis that anti-psychotics may interact with more than one class of cerebral dopamine receptors, the relative potencies of a series of compounds were compared in three behavioral tests and in binding studies with two radioligands. Apomorphine (0.6 mg/kg) simultaneously clicited in rat two kinds of facial stereotypies (sniffing and licking) and a stereotyped climbing behavior, allowing to compare in the same animals the relative potencies of various antipsychotics against the three behaviors. Only some substituted benzamides (Sulpiride, LUR 2366 and DAN 2163) antagonised at significantly lower dosages climbing than sniffing (or licking). The possibility that this discriminant potency might be related to a distinct affinity for two classes of dopamine receptors was investigated by binding studies on striatal membranes with 3H-apomorphine and 3H-domperidone. From lesion and subcellular fractionation studies, two classes of binding sites both labeled with 3H-domperidone but distinguished by apomorphine i.e. D-2 sites with nM affinity and D-4 sites with μM affinity for the dopamine agonist (according to the nomenclature of Sokoloff et al. 1980b) appear to be differently localised in striatum. Thus D-2 sites, whose number decreases after kainate lesion, are not significantly modified following cortical lesions and preferentially sediment with heavy primary subcellular fractions. In contrast D-4 sites, less affected by kainate lesions, are significantly decreased following cortical lesions (−30%) and preferentially sediment with the light subcellular fractions. In addition the apparently heterogenous recognition of total 3H-domperidone binding sites (i.e. the sum of D-2 and D-4 sites) by dopamine and apomorphine persists in the presence of guanosine-5′-triphosphate (pseudo-Hill coefficient of 0.60 instead of 0.55). This suggests that D-2 and D-4 sites cannot be considered as two discrete states of the same receptor strictly convertible one into the other by guanylnucleotides. Whereas most dopamine antagonists inhibited D-2 and D-4 site binding with similar affinities, the three benzamide derivatives with the largest selectivity in behavioral tests displayed 2–3-fold higher affinity for D-4 than for D-2 sites and the ratios of ID50 values of the whole series of antagonists against sniffing (or licking) and climbing behaviors were correlated (P〈0.01) with the ratios of K i values regarding D-2 and D-4 site binding. Also, sulpiride and LUR 2366 unlike haloperidol and metoclopramide, inhibited the total specific 3H-domperidone binding in a biphasic manner. However, the distinction by sulpiride and LUR 2366 of low and high affinity sites did not superimpose that of D-2 and D-4 sites, as distinguished by agonists. In this test the relative proportion of low affinity sites was 2-fold higher than that of D-2 sites and K i values for high affinity sites were lower than that for D-4 sites. Also the heterogeneity of 3H-domperidone sites regarding affinity of LUR 2366 persisted in the presence of low concentrations of apomorphine. Hence low affinity sites for discriminant benzamide derivatives may exist in two forms, distinguished by agonists and possibly interconvertible by GTP. Thus the hypothesis that two classes of central dopamine receptor can be distinguished by some substituted benzamides, but perhaps display no great difference in affinity of agonists in their physiological state, fits partic-ularly well with behavioral data.